Play Mates and Dream Dates
by Liz Hollow
Summary: "There are no such things as relationships anymore. It's all about getting in a girl's pants," Silver tries to tell me. But I don't believe that. I have to prove that people can still have meaningful relationships. I have to prove him wrong.
1. Chapter One

**Play Mates and Dream Dates**

**Chapter One**

"Silver, what did you _do_?" I yelled, looking at the box in the trash can. He did _not_ do what it looked like he did. Again. Did he? And I wasn't jealous. No way. I was so completely over Silver. The last time I even looked at him and felt butterflies in my stomach… I couldn't even remember. That was how over him I was.

Silver came out of his room in just his boxers, grinning at me when he saw what I was pointing to. Oh, no, even when he walked around the apartment in only his boxers, with no shirt to cover that chest of his, I still felt absolutely nothing. I was so over him that it didn't make a difference to me anymore. Oh, no. Definitely not. Completely not. I didn't feel a thing.

Not at all.

I had no idea when it all started, but sex never really seemed like his thing. I was notorious for seeing the best in people, looking for the signs of innocence. Somehow, I missed this. Then again, we had been so young when we met. Now that we were both in our twenties and living in an apartment together with Ethan, I probably should have known better. But I didn't.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall. "Don't you mean _who_?" He winked at me, and I threw my hands over my ears, spinning around. That was definitely something. He had something of a confidence boost over the past few years, and he wasn't too afraid of sharing information that I didn't particularly care about with me.

"Ew, Silver, I don't want to know who you've been sleeping around with." I dropped my hands from my ears, shaking my head at him and crossing my arms. I kicked the trash can, and the box wiggled further down. "You know that's dangerous, right? I'm not preaching abstinence here, but… you should really think before you—" I coughed, trying to be subtly, but he just rolled his eyes at me. For some reason, he thought I was the epitome of innocence. "If you know what I mean."

"Lyra," he said, pushing himself off the wall and stepping a little closer to me. My heart didn't jump. My pulse didn't rise. None of that happened. "I do think before I cough." He rolled his red eyes once more before sighing. "Come on, I don't invite just _any_ girl back whenever I go out. I only take the special ones."

"Who you find every single time you go out. There are obviously a lot of special girls in Johto," I pointed out, and Silver laughed. "Silver, I'm serious! This isn't something to joke about! You could really get in trouble if you keep doing this. I have no problem with you doing what you want; I have no authority over it. But when you get sick or hurt or worse, don't come crying to me. Because you brought this all upon yourself."

Silver just shook his head, and I could tell he was getting bored with the conversation. "Lyra, will you just live a little, please? You're way too much of a hopeless romantic. I know you say that you're waiting for the perfect guy, but let me tell you a secret: there's no such thing. There are no more Prince Charmings out there. This isn't the 1800s."

I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes at the redhead. "Are you saying that I should just settle? Is that what you're doing? Yeah, well, you're settling with a lot of women, Silver, and I'm not really that type of girl. There has to be a guy out there that still wants a meaningful relationship and doesn't just… have sex. There has to!"

Throwing an arm around my shoulders, Silver began walking, dragging me down the small hallway of our apartment to his room. He gestured to the undone bed, and I closed my eyes, not really wanting to think about the things done in that bed last night. That was just too much, and I was not okay with that.

"There are no such things as relationships anymore, Lyra, never mind meaningful ones. Guys aren't looking for someone to hang out with. That's what they have their guy friends for. It's all about getting in a girl's pants," Silver tried to tell me. But I couldn't bring myself to believe that. "Waiting around is stupid. It's a different kind of love now."

He left me standing in the hallway, staring at the slammed door of his bedroom. I couldn't believe that. Not all guys had as few morals as Silver. Ethan didn't bring home a different girl every time he went out on the town, though occasionally he brought some familiar lady friend over. At least it was the same girl every time.

Well, when I got married before Silver, what would he say then? Would he admit that he was wrong, that people could have relationships and fall in love. Different kind of love? No, it was just different people with different moral standards. I could have the love I wanted, more emotional and beautiful, and he could have his, more physical and… sexual.

Silver would never be able to hold onto a single girl for longer than a week, let alone long enough to get married. In fact, I bet he would never get a girl to say she loved him. Because no girl in her right mind would love him if that was all they did together. That was no way to get to know someone, and you couldn't fall in love that easily.

People actually looking for love didn't just throw the word around.

I knocked on Silver's door, finally finding myself so annoyed that I couldn't deal with this anymore. If he wanted to torment me, then he could. But I wasn't just going to sit there and take it. I would show him, like I showed him all those years ago when we first started out on our journeys, that he was wrong. And I would prove I was right. Meaningful relationships could still happen.

"What?" Silver asked, opening the door back up and giving me an annoyed look. He had put a shirt on now (but, like I said, seeing him shirtless really had no impact on me anymore), but he was still wearing those blue-striped boxers. I swallowed, trying to think about why I had knocked on the door in the first place.

"Um." I folded my hands together, fumbling with my words as I tried to think about what I wanted to say. Well, was I mature or what? I just needed to spit it out. "I think you're wrong."

Silver raised an eyebrow, appearing mildly amused now. "You think I'm wrong? Lyra, you're not the one who has been out seeing these people. You spend your time in here doing your… _research_, and I actually see the real world. People aren't like they used to be. No one is 'waiting until marriage'. It's just not happening."

"You're wrong!" I felt myself growing irritated with his insistence, and my voice was starting to rise. "I mean… not everyone is like that. If I'm here, then there has to be some guy out there who feels the same way as me. There's someone out there for everyone, right? There's someone out there for me. So, you're wrong."

Silver started to shut the door, but I stuck my foot out to stop him. I wasn't quite finished yet, and I never let anyone get the last word over me. If he wanted to do this, then we were going to do it right. I hadn't been Champion all those years ago for nothing.

"How about a little friendly competition? First one to get engaged wins." I held out my hand towards him, and his jaw slacked a little as his eyebrows went up. Staring at my hand, he pushed it away from a moment, holding onto it with both of his hands. But I didn't feel anything when he did that. Nothing.

"Engaged? Don't you think that's a little intense? It sounds like you're just trying to get a guy just to beat me," Silver said, crossing his arms. Well, I hadn't really meant it like that. But if that motivated me to get out and meet people, then that was fine with me. Because I was going to beat Silver if my life depended on it.

"Nah." I shrugged, releasing my hold on the door. "I'm not going to use him to beat you. I'm just going to play this game the way I want and watch you fail at your way. Because I highly doubt any honorable girl worth marrying would be okay with the fact that you've slept with half of the Johto region."

I smiled smugly, and Silver laughed. "Wow, all right, I am definitely taking that as a challenge after that comment. First one to get engaged, it is." He shook my hand, still holding it with both of his, and winked at me once again. "You're on. But what's the prize? I'm all for it either way, but there's got to be something."

Pondering this, I pulled my hand away from Silver's much larger ones. "If I get engaged first, then you have to give a speech at my wedding saying that I was right all along," I offered, and Silver shrugged. It seemed like something simple enough for him to do if I won, and it was like retribution for being a player. "And if you get engaged first…"

"If I get engaged first, you have to come to my wedding dressed as a whore. Just because I want to see _that_." Silver smiled, starting to close the door again as soon as my jaw dropped. At least I was nice about mine! All I was asking him to do was get rid of his pride and tell the truth, but he was asking me to go completely against my morals.

The fool.

"Fine," I agreed, and Silver stopped shutting the door, looking slightly impressed that I had agreed to his terms. "I'll do it. But just so you know, I'm not losing. There is no way that you can get engaged before me because you lack the commitment to do ask a girl to marry you. You can barely stay with a girl a whole night without wanting a different girl there with you."

"You make me sound like such a jerk to women," Silver said, and I just smiled, turning around and beginning to walk down the hallway. Oh, it was true that he definitely had been a jerk to me when we were younger, but he was a jerk to everyone. It took him a few years to actually become social and personable. Now, he was way more social than I was. Maybe I should never have changed him all those years ago.

But that was what he got.

"Well, if the boot fits, Silver." I winked at him, and he rolled his eyes at me before shutting the door once again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So… I wanted to write this before finishing "Stockholm" just to give everyone something to look forward to (if you choose to continue reading my work). To all you new readers, welcome! I'm Liz Hollow! This is not my typical writing, and I'm sorry if you find it… intense for a Pokémon story.

I feel I must explain. Being in college, I notice things. I really consider it a great tragedy that relationships are really… nonexistent, and I wish that weren't the case.

The next chapter won't be out until "Stockholm" is done, but I figured I would get this out there. It's the strangest thing, but while I was writing this, I kept on writing in Spanish. I just… I would be typing in English one minute, and then the next my sentence would be in Spanish. I don't really understand. XD

If you don't understand some of the… innuendoes… you probably shouldn't read this. (Still, nothing actually happens, but this is rated Teen for a reason).

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Unlike Silver, I actually had a _real_ job. It was a proven fact that people with steady jobs were more likely to get married and stay married. Money was quite a burden on a relationship these days, and maybe that was why Silver could never have an actual relationship. It wasn't that they didn't exist. It was just that no girl wanted to be with a man who couldn't provide for her.

Of course, this also opened up a lot more free time for him to do his… er, thing. Or to get his thing done, perhaps… Either way, he definitely had time to do whatever the hell he wanted. I, on the other hand, didn't have much time for anything. Having a job was just as much of a burden as a lack of money was, so maybe that was why _I_ could never have a relationship with anyone. I didn't really make time for it.

Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure how Silver came up with his portion of the rent for our apartment. Ethan worked for Professor Elm in New Bark Town, and I worked with Professor Oak via computer and phone doing research. Silver though… he somehow earned enough money without a job to come up with the rent.

I probably didn't want to know what he was doing to get the money, but sometimes I just got really curious.

Still, it wasn't any of my business. When it came to Silver, you were always better off not asking. Because if you did, you would probably regret it later. I had learned that the hard way, hearing tales that I never wanted to hear. But, hell, that was what I got for living with the guy. Being the only girl in an apartment was tough.

So, I always loved it when Professor Oak called me down to Pallet Town for a face-to-face meeting. Since Red was never around anymore, having grown up and moved out, his mother let me stay at her house. It was kind of nice staying with someone who would cook for me and take care of me—even though I was definitely old enough to be on my own now, it was always a treat to not have to worry about that stuff.

But Silver still found a way to make things difficult for me.

"Hey, Silver!" I banged on his door with my elbow, holding luggage in both of my hands. I leaned into it, yelling so he could hear me. "I'm going to Pallet Town! Do you need anything while I'm in Kanto? I'm stopping at the Celadon Department Store to get Ethan a Poké Doll for his girlfriend, so if you need something, speak now!"

He opened the door as I went to knock with my elbow again, and I fell into him, dropping my luggage at his feet. He jumped back, staring at me with an amused expression as I attempted to gather my things. But as I grabbed my suitcase, the clasp on it came undone, and all of my clothes tumbled out.

"Oh, damn it," I muttered, grabbing some shirts and throwing them back inside. I was going to be late at this rate, and I couldn't really worry about folding it all back up. Professor Oak didn't really care about my clothes, and if he did, I would just throw a lab coat over it. It wasn't really a problem I could worry about.

I heard Silver chuckle, and in one swift motion, he picked up something from my pile of clothes. I squealed as he took it, reaching to try to stop him, but he dangled it from a finger looking highly delighted. There were just some things that I never wanted Silver to see, and that right there was one of them.

"Lyra! A thong? And here I thought you were so innocent. Planning on getting laid while you're out in Kanto?" He chuckled, and I grabbed my underwear back from him, stuffing it into the corner of my suitcase where he couldn't see it. I could feel my cheeks burning as though they were on fire, and I just needed to escape. Now.

"No," I replied defensively, and Silver raised an eyebrow. I scooped the rest of my clothes into the suitcase, slamming it shut and locking the latches. "It just so happens that those are really comfortable, and they don't make panty lines. It's embarrassing if you're wearing nice dress pants and everyone can see your underwear. Distracting…"

Silver bit his lip, nodding. "Yeah, uh-huh. Because everyone is staring at your ass all the time. Well, yeah, maybe your ass." I narrowed my eyes at him, standing up and grabbing all of my luggage again. "Well, I don't need anything in Kanto. But, hey, if _you_ need anything _here_, I have everything you need. I have a feeling you would be too embarrassed to go into a store and buy that stuff, so… feel free to take anything you need."

I just continued to glare at him before leaving the room, kicking his doorway angrily as I left. There weren't many things more embarrassing than having your male roommate find your thongs, especially when you preached about "relationships, not sex". But it wasn't like thongs meant sex. They were just… underwear.

I couldn't leave fast enough. As soon as I escaped Silver's room, I waved a goodbye to Ethan and ran out of the apartment. Luckily, the car to take me to Goldenrod for the Magnet Train was already waiting outside for me, and I could make my fast escape without another problem.

"I have no idea why he's so difficult. He didn't used to be like this," I told the driver, who probably didn't care at all about what I was talking about. I just needed to rant. "He used to be so… normal. Well, not even normal. When we were younger, he was _such_ a jerk. In a mean way. Now he's a jerk in an 'I want to have sex with every girl on the planet because I think I'm such a hottie even though I'm totally not' kind of way…"

The driver looked sort of annoyed, but I just laughed, leaning back against the leather seat. "I don't know what the heck happened to him. I don't even know when it happened. Just… when we were younger, we sort of dated for awhile. I mean, I'm completely over him now." I leaned forward in my seat towards the driver, grasping the armrest. "But he never used to care about any of that stuff. Sure, we were probably only sixteen. But… I don't know. He was just different then. You know what I mean?"

"Yes, ma'am," the driver responded dryly, and I sighed. He didn't.

"Why do boys have to be so difficult? They have no respect for girls. I'm not saying that all women have respect for all men because that's certainly not the case. I just… what if no one really wants to have a relationship anymore? What if Silver's right? I can't let him be. I want him to go back to the way he used to be, and the only way I can do that is if I win this bet." I folded my hands, resting my head against the headrest. "I have to win."

But it wasn't like I was just going to jump into it, and I hoped Silver wouldn't either. Engagement was serious. I wouldn't just hop into a relationship just because of some silly bet. It was way deeper than that. Doing that would bring me down to Silver's level, and I would never sink that low. Never in a million years.

I just had to win.

"Silver has to be wro—"

"We're here, ma'am," the driver interrupted, and I stopped mid-sentence, looking out the window to see the towering skyscrapers of Goldenrod. The car slowed to a stop in front of the train station, and I stepped out before the driver could get over to open my door for me. He was probably annoyed with me, anyway, and I didn't want him to think I couldn't open my own door. Because I was a strong-willed woman who definitely could.

I smiled at the driver, and he made a little bow at me, grabbing my luggage and handing it to me. I grabbed the handles, heading into the station to await my train. There hadn't been any traffic on the way here, so I was a little bit early. But I didn't mind. I kind of liked sitting around waiting for a train. It was fun to people-watch.

I sat down at one of the benches, setting my luggage down on the floor. There were a few families surrounding me, with the women trying to settle the young kids down and the men watching the televisions above the benches. I narrowed my eyes. Didn't men do anything other than watch television and have sex?

"Hey, there are kids here," a voice snapped, and I covered my mouth, not realizing that I had asked that aloud. The owner of the voice sat down next to me, and I stared, pulling my hand away from my mouth and sighing in relief. The brown-haired man grinned at me, and I laughed, moving my luggage away from him.

"Sorry, Blue. I didn't think I said that out loud."

He shrugged, crossing his arms and looking smug. "And we do, for the record." I smiled, glad to hear that some guy had morals. "A few of us have jobs, too. Sometimes we have to prioritize."

I narrowed my eyes at Blue, not finding it funny at all. But here he was, making fun of me just like everybody else. I picked up my luggage, scooting over a few seats to separate myself from him. If he was going to make fun of me, he could do it at a distance that I couldn't hear him. But he just scooted over along with me.

"Hey, Lyra, come on. I'm just picking on you. Chill, will you?"

"How come all guys are such losers?" I demanded, sighing angrily. Blue raised his eyebrows, looking surprised by my outburst. "I mean… none of them can keep it in their pants, can they? Isn't there _one_ decent guy on the freaking planet who doesn't… _whip it out_ whenever they can just to get some stupid girl to sleep with them?"

I ran a hand through my hair, pulling out my elastics and redoing my pigtails. This was going to be the longest train ride ever. Just when I thought I was free of guys like Silver, here came Blue. Professor Oak's grandson. He usually did research for his grandfather in Kanto, so I had no idea why he was here in Johto. But I was a little annoyed that he was.

"I'm just kidding, Lyra. Geez." He rolled his eyes, and I gave him a dirty look.

I finally just sighed, waving my hand at him as a sign of defeat. I didn't want to head back to Kanto with a negative view of my coworker. And I was pretty sure that he was telling the truth when he said he was joking. Blue was always really sarcastic, and as obnoxious as that was, it kind of suited his personality.

"What are you even doing here?"

He shrugged, glancing at his watch to check the time. "You're not the only one who has research to do in Johto. Gramps asked me to check out the Burnt Tower in Ecruteak. Nothing there but a bunch of burnt wood and falling pillars. It's dangerous. They shouldn't even be letting people in there anymore."

I nodded. Even when I had been there years ago, it had been in sad shape.

"Why didn't he just ask me to check?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. I was far closer to Ecruteak than Blue was, and it seemed like it was out of the way to send him there.

But Blue just shrugged again. "I don't know."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "You're informative…"

"You're boring."

"You're stupid."

"Is that the best you can do? You're such a girl."

I furrowed my eyebrows, kicking my legs against the ground. "Yeah, I am. And what's wrong with that, huh, Blue? You're worse than Silver sometimes, I swear. I can't wait to get to Red's house and just take a nap and forget about you and Silver and boys and… and boys and stupid obnoxious people of the male variety and—"

Blue laughed, and I paused, watching him wearily. "You got a vendetta, Lyra? You're kind of ratting on the male sex a lot today."

"Something like that…"

"Listen, if you want to tell me about it…" Blue stammered, and I glanced at him, watching his face contort as he tried to find the right words. I shook my head, and he sighed. "If something happened, Lyra, you can tell me. I know I'm a _boy_ and all, but…" He shrugged, leaning back against the bench. "You don't have to keep it a secret."

I laughed sarcastically, looking away. Yeah, I was probably better off keeping this a secret. How bad would it sound if I told him that I made a bet with Silver to see who could get engaged first? It sounded a little crazy to me.

But I was still going to win, crazy or not.

"All right, all right." Blue held up his hands in surrender, and I grinned. "You must be PMSing, right? Or are you pregnant? I heard girls get real bitchy when they're pregnant."

"Oh, geez, Blue—no! No, I am not PMSing, nor am I pregnant." I smacked his arm, and he laughed, rubbing the spot where I hit him. Was that every boy's first thought whenever a girl was in a bad mood? "Geez… do I look pregnant, Blue?"

"Well, I've heard that some girls don't show that much, so it's—"

I smacked him again, and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not!"

The whistle signaling the arrival of our train rang, and I sighed, so happy that it had come to save me from him. This whole thing—this whole day and week—was crazy. What the hell was going on in the world right now?

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, standing up. But before I could grab my luggage, Blue bent down and picked it up for me. "Oh, Blue, you don't have to—"

He just shrugged, walking towards the train. I stood in my spot for a moment, staring at him as he walked away. Then, he turned, looking back at me and raising his eyebrows at me. I shook my head, a small smile on my lips, and followed him.

I really just needed a girl's night out after all this…

* * *

**Author's Note:**I am actually kind of impressed that I got this out so quickly after finishing "Stockholm". And I had so much homework to do today. Don't ask me how I finished this up because I honestly don't know. XD

I feel like I'm terrible at this suggestive humor stuff, but… I dunno. I guess you readers will be the judge of that!

As for Silver… there is a little bit of information as to his… sort of OOCness. There is more of a story behind it, but I don't want to reveal it just yet. Just know that he wasn't always so… needy. If you catch my drift.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

It was absolutely great how Blue neglected to tell me that Red's mom was out of town. In other words, I couldn't stay at her house. The _one_ thing I was looking forward to during my visit to Kanto was staying with a woman who would take care of me and treat me like my mom treated me. Now, pampering was not an option.

Great. Really great.

"Don't worry," Blue told me, and I gave him a hard look. He just smirked at me, grabbing my luggage for me as we exited the train in Saffron. If he was trying to suck up to me, it wasn't working. "You can always stay at my house. Daisy is at a conference in Celadon, so her bedroom is open if you need somewhere to stay."

Even better. It would be just like home. Staying at a house with a guy who didn't have any respect for girls sounded great. And if Daisy wasn't there either, well, that was fine, too. Because why would I ever want to just spend some quality time with a girl when I could spend some quality time with a guy who probably just wanted to get in my pants? It was a mystery…

"I don't think so." I smiled at him, rolling my eyes and taking my luggage away from him as we waited at the curb for our car to show up. I hadn't been expecting to see Blue here, but it would save money if we just split the cost of a cab. There was one good thing about his presence here; guys felt obligated to pay.

Blue just shrugged, the amused expression lighting up his face once again. "Suit yourself. But, you know, it would be high convenient for you to just stay with me. The Pokémon lab is _right_ there, so you wouldn't have to wake up so early in the morning. And I know how to cook, so… a homemade meal is always nice, right? I make a mean lasagna."

I laughed at this, watching him cross his arms with a bit of attitude. "Lasagna is my favorite," I admitted, and Blue elbowed me. "Okay, fine. But only because it takes me awhile to get ready in the morning, and I don't feel like waking up at six o'clock in the morning to do it. Don't you think for a minute it's because of the lasagna!"

Blue winked at me, and I narrowed my eyes. "Oh, we all know it is."

"Shut up," I snapped, and he chuckled.

Our taxi finally showed up, parking in front of the station. The driver popped the trunk, and Blue and I stuffed our bags in it, hopping in the car without another word to each other. I sat in the bag, folding my arms and relaxing against the seat, and just as I went to shut the door, Blue grabbed it, staring at me expectantly.

"Well, move over."

I raised my eyebrows, uncrossing my arms. "What? Why can't you sit up there? Or at least walk around, you jerk."

Blue rolled his eyes and slammed my door shut, walking around the back of the car to the other side, opening the door and sliding in beside me. I buckled my seatbelt, sticking my tongue out at him when I thought he wasn't looking, but he laughed, clearly having seen my immature motion. He stuck his tongue back out seconds later.

"Oh, come on, Blue. How old are we?" I laughed, staring out the window as the driver accelerated onto the road. The skyscrapers of Saffron passed by so quickly that they all blurred together, blocking out the sun and casting a dark shadow over us. I was never really a fan of urban landscapes, but I had to admit, Saffron was nice.

"Well," Blue finally muttered, and I looked away from the window to stare at him, "if I'm twenty-five, then… you're twenty-two. But you're turning twenty-three next month, aren't you? On… the eighteenth, if memory serves correct."

I furrowed my eyebrows, shaking my head in disbelief. "You remembered my birthday?"

He just shrugged. "It's not like it's hard to remember…"

I didn't say anything in reply. I just watched him for a moment, turning around when I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks. I was fairly certain that we had only told each other our birthdays once, and that was awhile ago—I couldn't even remember when his was. What kind of coworker was I if he remembered my birthday but I couldn't remember his? How embarrassing…

We sat in silence for the rest of the ride to Pallet Town. Had I not been carrying luggage, I would have just flown to Pallet on my Pidgeot. But my poor bird wouldn't be able to carry me with all that luggage, so taking a car was the only other option. And that added a lot of time to the journey. What could have been an hour turned into three very long hours.

It was night before we made it to Pallet, and after sitting in a car for so long, I just wanted to stretch my legs, maybe get a little something to eat, and then sleep. Blue and I probably had a long day ahead of us, and I needed as much sleep as I could get. Professor Oak usually kept me as busy as possible whenever I visited Pallet.

Blue let me grab my own luggage this time, and I followed him to the steps of his house. He opened the door, stepping inside and holding it open for me. I had to admit, he and Daisy had a nice place, but it was clear that Daisy was in charge of the décor. It was a little too feminine to have been Blue's choice.

He flipped on the lights to the stairwell, gesturing to it with a sigh. "Daisy's room is the first on the right. I'm going to make something for us to eat. Oh… can you do me a favor?" He walked closer to me, and I held my breath for a moment. "Take my bags and put them in my room? It's right next to Daisy's."

He held his bags out to me, and I narrowed my eyes, moving both of my bags to one hand and grabbing his with my other. I wobbled upon taking them, carefully swinging his duffle bag over my shoulder and coughing miserably. What the hell did he have in those bags? Bricks? Geez, no wonder he was so strong.

It took me a few minutes to get up the stairs. Blue escaped to the kitchen, and I was thankful that he didn't have to watch me attempt to carry all the stuff. Eventually I gave up, putting his stuff down in the middle of the stairs and walking to Daisy's room with just my stuff. I would come back for his later when I could actually carry it without fear of falling down the stairs.

Daisy's room reminded me a lot of my room back at home. She had posters of some of the cutest Pokémon up on the wall, but her other decorations were particularly mature. Solid paint on the wall—a light green like new grass—a beige carpet on the floor. Her bed had a simple comforter—a flowered white one. It was… sort of boring, actually.

After throwing my stuff on the floor of her room, I went back for Blue's, carrying the rest carefully up the stairs and entering his room. His wasn't what I expected; there were posters all over the room, his bedding bright and decorated with Poké Balls. It looked like a ten-year-old boy's room, but… it was kind of cute.

I put Blue's stuff down, walking around the room and looking at the pictures on his dresser and desk. He had been an adorable little boy, kind of bratty looking, and it was amazing to see how he had aged. From adorable and obnoxious to slightly attractive and obnoxious… the transition was really something.

I grabbed a frame with a picture of Blue and Red in it, smiling at the sight. As much as Blue complained about Red, I knew they were really good friends. The fact that Blue had a picture of the two of them on his desk was pretty much proof. I could hold it against him for the rest of his life—or I could just leave him alone.

A loud ringing noise shocked me out of daze, and I grabbed my PokéGear out of my pocket and threw it up to my ear without even bothering to see who it was. "Hey," I greeted, sitting down on Blue's bed. "Lyra speaking."

"Guess who just got told, 'I love you'," Silver's voice sang, and my stomach knotted up. Not already? There was no way in hell—we just made the bet the other day! No one could fall in love that quickly—I didn't care about the fairy tale love-at-first-sight thing. It didn't really exist. "Oh, yes. That's right. It was me."

I held up a finger, putting it down when I realized Silver couldn't see it anyway. "Nothing that a woman says in bed with you counts." Silver just laughed. "You do know that it's only nine o'clock, right? That's pretty early if you ask me."

"What if I proposed to her right now? I bet she'd say yes," Silver continued, completely ignoring me. I gaped at this comment, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. What the hell? "Hold on one second, Lyra. I'm going to win this bet."

"_Whoa_!" I yelled, hoping that he hadn't set the phone down yet. "Silver, you cannot just ask someone right now! Are you kidding me? How horrible can you get? You're a freaking man whore, Silver. _A man whore_! You hear me? If you think that any girl would say yes to you after one night in bed, you have another thing coming to you. You're not that good, buddy!"

There was no reaction on the other end of the phone, but I could hear voices murmuring on the other end. They were talking nearby. I grabbed my pigtail, jumping up off Blue's bed and pacing around the room. What the heck could I do? I didn't just want to win—I didn't want Silver getting into something that he wasn't ready for just for competition's sake.

So, I did the only thing I could think of.

"Oh, _yeah_, Silver!" I screamed as loud as I could into the phone, hoping that the girl would hear. "I am _so_ ready for tonight, baby. Mm, yeah, I just can't wait to see you again. You were _so_ good last night, and I just want _more_. I can't stop thinking about you. You look so _damn_ good—and you felt it, baby. That was the greatest night of my life. Oh, yeah, that was amazing. I can't wait to see you later! See you later, baby!"

I paused, hanging up the phone and praying that Silver would call back soon. Just like I predicted, he did. I answered the PokéGear, snapping it up to my ear and grinning. If he had called back that quickly, it looked pretty good for me. Geez, I was _good_. Damn good. For a virgin, I was incredibly convincing.

I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

"Nice. That was really cute, Lyra." Silver's voice was dry, heavy. But this tone was so familiar to me, the one that I used to hear all the time. But it was the one I was completely over. "She left. Are you happy?"

I grinned, spinning around—only to find Blue standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised. I nearly dropped the PokéGear in surprise, fumbling with it in my hands before pulling it back to my ear again. I laughed nervously, wiggling the fingers of my free hand at Blue, and he just rolled his eyes.

"Um, yeah, I'm gonna have to call you back. Sorry."

I snapped the PokéGear shut, coughing nervously and stuffing the device back in my pocket. Blue walked into the room, picking his bags up off the floor and moving them to his desk chair. I opened my mouth, trying to think of some excuse for everything I had just shouted. I kind of forgot that the door had been open.

"That was just a joke, Blue—don't think that I—"

"Oh, I know. I'm not judging you." Blue held up his hands, and I just put mine on my hips. Somehow, I didn't quite believe him.

"Silver—"

Blue laughed, walking over to me and elbowing me. "Lyra. Whatever. I don't really want to know what's going down between you and Silver, so please don't think it's necessary to catch me up. I have more important things to worry about than your love life. Which, frankly, probably isn't all that interesting."

I grimaced, pulling at the hem of my shirt. Who was he kidding? If he was judging my love life by that phone call, it seemed pretty damn interesting to me.

"Blue." I sighed, shaking my head at him. "Please don't assume that there's anything between Silver and I. As far as I'm concerned, he's a dirty freak who enjoys a woman's company in bed more than he does anywhere else. Which… I personally find repulsive. But I'm not supposed to be dissing him like this… it's mean."

He looked at me, his brown eyes narrowed, and just shrugged, walking back towards the door. "Like I said… whatever. I only came up here to tell you that dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."

Without another word, he left the room, leaving me to wonder what the hell just happened here.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Since someone asked… Silver doesn't make money from the ladies. That's not how he pays for his rent. Just thought I'd clarify on that, LOL.

I dunno. I don't think this chapter is as funny as the other ones. But oh well. It was a really fast update, so that's the exchange.

I guess the next chapter will be out on Sunday. Just because I'm really unsure about my schedule right now. So… the 13th. (And maybe a surprise update that is no longer a surprise on Valentine's Day!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Professor Oak called at about six o'clock in the morning to demand my attendance at his lab, and I was not pleased. There was nothing I hated more than being woken up before my alarm went off. If Oak wanted us there at six-thirty in the morning, then he should have told us this before. If I was late, he would just have to deal.

So, I took my time out of pure annoyance. Blue called up to me about a thousand times, and after six-thirty rolled around, he left the house without me, giving up hope that I would be ready on time. I didn't make it down to the lab until six-forty-five, and even then, no other aides were there besides Blue. Why did _we_ need to be there so early?

"Lyra! Just the girl I wanted to speak with." Professor Oak smiled at me despite my tardiness, and I forced a smile back. Blue just rolled his eyes, and when Professor Oak turned away to grab something from his desk, I narrowed my eyes at his grandson. "There are a couple of things I would like to discuss with you."

He turned back around, holding an envelope out to me, and I grabbed it from him. I didn't know what exactly this was, but if it was my paycheck, I would forgive him for waking me up at six o'clock in the freaking morning.

Professor Oak smiled as I held the envelope, and in a chipper voice, he told me, "You're fired."

I dropped the envelope, and no one moved to pick it back up. Blue's eyes were wide, clearly in just as much shock as I was. I laughed, reaching down to scoop the envelope off the ground and whacking Professor Oak gently with it. The old man wasn't much of a kidder, and, honestly, he was kind of the stereotypical grumpy old man who told kids to get off his lawn. But he had to be kidding about this. It just didn't make sense.

But the smile was gone now, and he didn't laugh with me.

"But… Professor…" I felt a sense of urgency now, hoping that he really wasn't serious. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Where else was I going to get a job? I didn't want to do anything else with my life anymore. "If this is because I was late, I am so sorry. I just… it takes me awhile to get ready, and I wasn't expecting to have to get up so early—I just… I mean, I can work the extra fifteen minutes for free. I don't even care. In fact, I'll work an extra _hour_ for free. Professor… I need this job."

Blue shook his head, crossing his arms. "I don't get it, Gramps."

Professor Oak glanced at his grandson, putting a hand on his shoulder for just a moment. Then, turning back to me, he smiled again, though this smile appeared slightly disappointed. I really didn't understand. This was the first time I had ever been late, and I had been so good at collecting data and analyzing it for consistency and errors. I was well-known throughout Kanto and Johto as one of Professor Oak's best researchers. So why?

"Lyra, allow me to explain." Professor Oak gestured to the envelope in my hand. "That's your final paycheck. I have given you a bonus that should hopefully give you enough financial support to last you a year. It may take you awhile to find a new job, so I wanted to ensure that you were covered during the time you were searching."

I stared at the envelope, running my fingers along Professor Oak's messy handwriting spelling my name. If Professor Oak was concerned enough to cover me for a full year, then why the hell was he firing me in the first place? I would much rather work for him and get paid in smaller increments than not have a job and receive this large bonus.

"Professor, I can't accept this. I want my job," I begged, and Professor Oak's eyes relaxed a little bit. Blue backed away a little bit, still shaking his head in disbelief that his coworker had just been released, and I glanced at him. He avoided my eyes, staring at his grandfather instead, and I covered my mouth, my eyes filling with tears.

Professor Oak sighed, and I looked back at the old Pokémon expert, so completely horrified that I didn't want to stare here anymore. Had he just called me all the way to Kanto just to fire me? He had made me believe that I was going to be doing something useful, and all he wanted to do was release me from work?

"I'm sorry, Lyra. But I feel this is the best thing I can do for you," Professor Oak explained, but I didn't feel it was an explanation at all—it was just an excuse. How was this "best" for me? "You have had life handed to you on a silver-platter. Everything has been _given_ to you. This job—I gave it to you because of who you _were_: a Pokémon Champion. And people keep giving to you. You'll never know the real world."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, throwing my envelope back on the ground. "_Nothing_ has ever been handed to me! I had to work hard to become the Champion, and I never expected anyone to give me anything because of it. I wanted to work for you because I thought I was the best suited to do so! I never… _assumed_ I would get the job! I've gone through life trying, and… I've had to work to pay my rent. I've had to work to keep my life together. It's not just something that I've automatically been good at."

Professor Oak smiled, nodding at me. "You've had advantages that others haven't had. You have to admit that." I didn't respond. "This is why I want you to go find a real job. I want you to apply to businesses, work for awhile, see how real people live. I've asked that no other Pokémon professors give you work."

"_What_?"

I gave up. It was no use. Professor Oak was a stubborn old man who just wanted to destroy a young woman's dreams. Because somehow, he thought that was necessary. But why were my dreams any less important than those of other people? I had to work just as hard for them, but they were just as easily taken away.

I didn't feel like a "real person". I felt like a betrayed one.

So, I left. I left the paycheck sitting on the floor of the lab, shaking my head and hastily escaping the premise before anyone could stop me. I could see Blue reach for my arm out of the corner of my eye as I turned, but I was glad he didn't stop me. I just needed to get my bags from his house and leave. I didn't want to deal with his cocky attitude today.

I forgot that I locked the door to his house as I left this morning, however, and so I couldn't just grab my bags and leave. I was stuck waiting for him outside his house, but it didn't take him long to show up. He appeared a few minutes after I left, holding out his keys and putting them in my hands without a word. I just narrowed my eyes, turning around and trying to force the keys into the doorknob. But they _wouldn't go in_.

"Damn keys," I snapped, giving up. Blue didn't say anything as he took the keys from me, nudging me out of the way and unlocking the door with ease. "Show off."

"Lyra, I don't really understand his thinking," he finally said, and I just wiped my eyes, shaking my head as I entered his house. I really didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to grab my stuff and leave, to be left alone. Firing never seemed like an option to me… quitting my job, maybe. But being fired? Not allowed.

So, I just ran upstairs before he could say anything else can grabbed my suitcases, dragging them down the stairs and leaving little crevasses in the carpet. But before I could get to the door, Blue blocked my path, holding two glasses in one hand and a bottle of red wine in the other. I stared at him, watching as he wiggled the glasses and smiled.

"A glass of wine or twenty can usually fix things. Even if it is only seven o'clock in the morning. No one needs to know."

I actually laughed, and Blue's eyes lit up just a little—so subtly that I almost missed it. But I didn't. And it was that subtlety that made me let go of my bags and take one of the glasses from his hand, walking over to the kitchen table and sitting down. I set the glass on the table, looking at him expectantly to fill it.

"Want to play a game?" he asked, and I raised an eyebrow. What was he doing with this? "It's kind of a… different twenty questions game. You can ask me ten questions, and I'll ask you ten questions. Any questions you want—they don't need to be yes-or-no. And there are no limitations. I'll answer whatever you throw at me, but you have to, too."

I bit my lip, pausing nervously as Blue filled my glass. "Why?" If he was hoping to get me drunk and ask me really personal questions, I wouldn't have any of that.

But Blue just shrugged. "Takes your mind off things."

So, I nodded, and he gestured to me, allowing me to ask the first question. I thought for a minute, trying to think of something—but I couldn't take my mind off this yet. Being fired was horrible—how dare Professor Oak think I have everything handed to me? What about Blue? Wasn't he handed this job?

"Why weren't you fired?" I asked, and Blue narrowed his eyes at me. It wasn't that he was mad at me for asking that—he seemed more annoyed that I wouldn't get away from that subject. But how could he expect me to?

"Nothing has ever been handed to me." I opened my mouth to protest, but Blue held up a hand. "I'm the grandson of a famous Pokémon professor, but I don't go around advertising that. Sure, I guess I got the advantage since I've always been around Pokémon, and I knew how to raise them and stuff. But… that didn't matter. Red still beat me. I was Champion for less than twenty-four hours, Lyra. I'm a joke. No one wants to admit they hired the infamous Blue. Gramps didn't even want to hire me. He only did because I deserved it."

I frowned, a little bothered by his guilt trip. "But I deserve it, too."

Blue nodded, taking a quick sip of his wine. "I know." He sighed, and I pouted, downing my wine in a single swig. Blue filled my glass for me again, probably against his better judgment. "You might want to go a bit slower. We have a lot of questions to go—and it's my turn. What's your favorite color?"

"What?"

"What's your favorite color?"

I didn't want to answer that. For such an easy question, it was embarrassing. I didn't want to admit that blue was actually my favorite color—it had nothing to do with his name. I just happened to find the color really appealing. But I finally sighed, admitting it to him. "Blue. But don't you get cocky! It has nothing to do with you!"

He just grinned, looking pleased with my response, and I narrowed my eyes at his egocentricity. How obnoxious could he get?

"Fine… then, let's talk about something that you obviously don't want to talk about," I said, revenge feeling so sweet already. But maybe that was just the wine settling. "Why did you leave your gym in Viridian City?"

"It kind of goes with the whole failing miserably at being Champion thing. I only took over the Viridian Gym because it had been empty for a year. No one _asked_ me to become a Gym Leader, and I'm pretty sure no one really wanted me to be. Champion for two seconds or not, I was still strong. No one could beat me—except you. And, honestly, after that battle, everything else was really boring to me." He shrugged, downing the rest of his wine. "So, I quit."

"Oh," was all I said.

Blue smiled, shrugging off the bitter memories and looking at me. "My turn. Want to explain what really happened on the phone last night? I think I jumped in at just the wrong time." He grinned, that same cocky grin that I was so familiar with—the one that kind of reminded me of the old Silver—and I smiled. That call… geez.

I didn't want to give the full details about the plan and such, though, so… I needed to keep my lips sealed on that. "Oh, Silver is just a male slut. No biggie," I said, and Blue raised his eyebrows. "He wanted to propose to this girl that he just met, and I thought screaming into the phone like that would get him to stop… and it did. I didn't want him getting into something that he'd regret later. So, even though I sounded like a complete loser—mission complete."

Blue actually looked impressed by this. "So, you're not with Silver or anything?"

I clicked my tongue, picking up my glass of wine and swirling it before taking a sip. "I believe it's my turn, my dear. You'll have to save that for another time. It's my question. Why do guys always make fun of girls when they like them? Boys are just… ugh, so obnoxious. Just tell me if you like me!" I paused, shaking my head. "I mean… any boy… just tell a girl if you like her."

Blue had to think about this, and I swallowed the rest of my wine, pouring a third glass for myself. Finally, he sighed. "I don't know. Dignity. Pride. Arrogance. We don't know how to tell a girl that we like her, so…" He looked at me, watching me as I took another sip of the wine. "We try to get her attention the only way we know how."

"You make fun of me," I pointed out, my head feeling a little funny now.

Blue frowned, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "That's because you're annoying, and you're easy to pick on."

I laughed, reaching across the table and flicking his glass. "You're mean."

"You're obnoxious."

"We do this too much." I smiled, and I noticed him put his hand down on the table particularly close to mine. I didn't comment on this. "Your turn."

He sat quiet for a moment, his hand sliding on the table a little bit closer to mine. I pulled mine back, putting it in my lap. He finally gasped, tapping his fingers on the table. "This is going to seem like a really weird question, and feel free to answer it anyway that you like… do you prefer sugar or sugar substitutes?"

"_What_?"

"Just answer the question."

I made a face at him, rolling my eyes and sighing. "Real sugar in moderation. What kind of question was that, anyway? Who cares if I like sugar or artificial sweeteners?"

Blue just took a sip of his wine. "Just a random one. My turn again. You just asked a question," he said, and I held up a finger in protest. But he was right. I _had_ just asked him a question. And he was right about another thing—this was really distracting me from the event earlier. What had happened just a half hour ago felt like months ago. Until Blue reminded me of it all over again. "Do you want your money?"

He held up the envelope that Professor Oak had tried to give me, waving it in front of me. I narrowed my eyes at it, knowing that I really did want it, and if Oak wanted me to take it, I should—but I was so mad. How could I accept something from Oak when he had been such a jerk to me?

"Yes," I decided, and Blue slid the envelope across the table to me. I shoved it in my pocket, hidden from sight. I didn't want to think about it. "Are you mad at him for firing me?"

Blue furrowed his eyebrows, and I frowned. "Yeah. I am. But I would never admit that to anyone but you, so if anyone else asks, I'm thrilled. I work alone." He grinned, and I laughed. "What about you… do you really want to leave? This house—this town?"

"No. I don't want to go back to the apartment without a job. Silver will just eat this up… and Ethan has a job with Professor Elm, so I don't want to even think about that. I kind of like just sitting here and talking like this, too," I admitted, and Blue nodded. "I don't get to do that anymore. I used to. But not now. And it's kind of nice. Do you want me to go?"

Blue laughed, and I drank from my glass again. "I haven't made lasagna yet."

I took that as a no. And that was pretty much all it took to make me decide to stay. Until Blue kicked me out or until I ran out of clothes, I would hang around. It was intrusion, sure, but… he pretty much admitted that he wanted me to stay.

"If you could kiss any guy, who would you kiss?" He didn't wince as he asked, and his voice didn't shake nervously. He was so pompous. The jerk. Who did he think he was? If he wanted me to say his name, it wasn't happening.

So, I just smiled, finishing off my wine. Standing up, I leaned closer to Blue, winked at him, and whispered, "I don't kiss and tell."

Then, I smiled, walking away from the table to grab my luggage and bring it back upstairs. Blue called after me, "We haven't asked twenty questions!"

I laughed, beginning to feel the effects of the wine even more. "I've heard all I needed to."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Definitely not a funny chapter (maybe there were little parts, I dunno), but it was really necessary for it to be this way. Losing your job isn't a comical thing at all. I actually don't know, thank goodness, but plenty of people out there do.

I find it very weird that they are drinking wine at seven o'clock in the morning. And Lyra is, like, drunk, LOL. At seven o'clock in the morning. Geez.

Next chapter might be tomorrow. Valentine's Day! If I can manage to type it, haha. But no guarantees.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"You got fired? For what?"

I sighed. Hadn't I just explained what had happened to me? Was Ethan completely ignoring me while I spoke? I knew the situation was confusing and all, but this was just ridiculous. If I had to go back to ignorance after staying with someone like Blue, it was going to kill me. I really needed to get a job now.

"Ethan," I muttered tiredly, although I had no excuse to be exhausted. I had managed to get over twenty-four hours of sleep. After drinking all that wine, I decided to take a nap—this turned into a long slumber, and from eight o'clock yesterday morning to ten o'clock this morning, I was unconscious to the rest of the world. Even Blue was gone when I woke up.

So, with Blue's house to myself and nothing to do, I decided to call home. They weren't expecting me home for a week, and I doubted I would stay that long now. There was something very ultimate about hearing your words repeated to you, like being fired was so finalized. I couldn't get my job back, and I certainly couldn't stay here. This was Blue's house, and he still had work to do. I needed to leave, lasagna or not.

"Hey, I'm just confused." Ethan sounded a little amused, though, and I was not loving that. "One day you were working for Professor Oak—everything seems dandy—and suddenly he fires you just because he thinks you've been given too much? What about that stupid grandson of his, huh? Purple or whatever his name is? He has more of a connection to Oak than you have, so he should probably be fired, too!"

I felt my stomach twist, and I couldn't tell if it was because I was angry that he called Blue stupid or that I was angry that Blue wasn't fired. I wanted to go with the latter—thinking the first thing made me sound like I liked him or something. And even after last night and all that talking, I still thought he was a stuck up jerk.

"It's Blue," I corrected, and Ethan just laughed. "And how do you think it feels being the Champion that only lasted a few hours? He's embarrassed, Ethan. Nothing has been easy for him." I didn't know exactly why I was defending Blue, but it felt like the right thing to do. My firing had nothing to do with him.

"And it has been for you?"

I bit my lip, unable to respond to this. It hadn't been _easy_. I had to work for what I wanted just like everyone else, hadn't I? I got a Pokémon because Professor Elm wanted to give me one—because I was his neighbor… But becoming Champion wasn't easy by any means. It wasn't supposed to be. I was a heroine because of what I worked to do, not because of what I had been given. Team Rocket didn't fear my name. They feared my efforts. Right?

"Listen, I'm just saying that Professor Oak is getting a little old. You know what I mean?" Ethan continued, and I nodded, still unable to get my voice to work. "It was nice of him to cover you for the next year, though. And even if you get a job really quickly, you still have that extra money. It's just a weird situation."

"Yeah," I finally managed to say, walking downstairs to the kitchen. I was kind of hungry now, and I really hoped that Blue kept his refrigerator stocked. I felt a little bad raiding it and taking his food, but a girl had to eat—and quite honestly, I wasn't in the mood to travel to Viridian to order some food by myself there.

Ethan paused, and I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure he was still there. Finally, he spoke, sighing quickly before speaking. "I'll pick you up some applications today, okay? I'll go to a couple of places that might be of interest to you. Take your time coming back, Lyra. You might need a vacation after this. Just don't stay with Purple too long. He's fishy."

"It's Blue," I repeated, and a little annoyed. "And I won't. I feel bad. I mean, it was one thing when I was staying with him because I needed a place to stay for work. Usually I stay with Red's mom, but since she's out of town… well, Blue said I could stay, but I don't want to impose. So, I think I'm going to leave today. I'll be back late."

A whole week early… Silver was going to have a field day with that. For someone without a job, Silver sure liked to pick on me for having one. And now that I had been fired, he was just going to love that. I would just have to come up with some sort of excuse as to why I was coming back so early. One lie wouldn't be too big a deal.

"Hey, Ethan?" I started, and Ethan hummed on the other end. "Can you please not say anything to Silver about this?"

"No problemo, Lyra. My lips are sealed!"

"Thanks. Bye, Ethan. I'll see you later." I didn't wait for a reply from him before I hung up my phone. I snapped it shut, shoving it in my pocket and sighing. There was a part of me that really didn't want to leave. That felt like something was happening here that I needed to stick around for. But I needed to go.

I needed to go home and make sure Silver didn't win this competition, actually.

Yeah… that was what I needed to do…

Yeah…

I opened the door to the refrigerator, seeing a plate with my name on a sticky note attached to it. I grabbed it, ripping the sticky note off and looking at it—but only my name was scrawled on it in messy handwriting, with no instructions or anything else. I looked at the plate of food, surprised to see such an assortment: fresh fruit, bread, cheese… it seemed a little fancy to me. But I ate it anyways, so hungry that I could eat anything Blue gave me for breakfast.

When I finished up, I washed the dishes for him, figuring that I should do one nice thing for him before I left. Surprisingly, despite his pompous demeanor, Blue was surprisingly nice. Perhaps it was just a maturity thing—with him being three years my elder and all—but it was kind of nice to see. Silver had to be wrong.

But I needed to get back and prove that.

Grabbing my luggage, I dragged it all downstairs towards the doorway, calling for a cab to come pick me up. I had no idea when Blue would return, so I figured I could just leave him a note. Leaving without having to say anything would be a lot faster than waiting around for him and having to explain myself.

_Dear Blue,_

_Thank you for everything, Blue. I'm sorry I had to cut this stay short, but those things happen, I suppose. It was really nice of you to offer your home to me, and please tell Daisy thank you for letting me use her bed. And thank you for just sitting and talking with me yesterday, too. Maybe we can drink together more often—it's quite entertaining. Next time we can include some dares with those truths, too, if you want._

_In all seriousness, I really do appreciate your support. You act so cocky, Blue, but I think you're one of the most sensitive guys I have ever met in my life. You kind of give me hope for all the guys in the world. The vendetta might be slowly going away._

_We can do lasagna later. I look forward to it._

_Lyra_

I left the note on the kitchen table, hoping that he would notice it there. If not, it wasn't really a loss. I was gone, anyway, whether he read the note or not. And if he didn't notice it, I was sure he would come across it someday. He had my number, anyway, so if he was really concerned, he could just call me up and ask.

My cab took longer than necessary to show up, but I managed to leave without running into Blue. I was thankful enough to sit in the car for hours, board a train and wait a few more hours, and then take another cab for several more hours without receiving a call or message from anyone. It was a good opportunity for me to sit in silence—for me, awkward silences were just moments to live in the quiet and think.

When I arrived at home, Silver actually managed to be a decent man and helped me carry my bags up to my room from outside the apartment. He didn't mention anything about my being fired, so I knew Ethan had kept his side of the deal. Silver didn't even ask why I was home so early; he just grabbed my bags, put them in my room, and left.

Unusual. But not unknown.

"How you holding up?"

Ethan stood in my doorway, arms crossed as he leaned against my wall. I smiled at him, and he uncrossed his arms, revealing a pile of papers to me. I took the applications, glancing quickly through each one to find something of interest to me: PokéMart employee, several applications to random stores I didn't care about… nothing here I _wanted_ as much as I had wanted to work as a researcher. What now?

"All right," I finally responded, sitting down on my bed and putting the applications beside me, determined not to look at them again. What were my other options? What had Blue done when he had nothing? "Oak didn't say anything about becoming a Gym Leader. That's what Blue did—that's what I could do. Right?"

Ethan shrugged. "Assuming you can find an opening."

Touché. It wasn't as if I could just go to the Gym, ask for an application, prove my worth, and then just take the spot of the old Gym Leader. It didn't work like that. Viridian just happened to be without a Leader when Blue had taken over.

I sighed, wishing I could just have my job back. What a jerk Oak was. Senile old hag.

"Well, hey, just look through those applications. If there's anything that interests you, good. If not, you still have time. Oak gave you a year's pay, right?" Ethan smiled reassuringly at me, and I just nodded, forcing a smile back.

"Yeah."

"Just relax. You have time." Ethan tapped the wooden frame of my door, turning to leave the room. He paused, glancing around the hall before leaning back in the room. "By the way, Silver's been quite… hmm… well, I'll let you figure it out for yourself."

He turned, and before I could jump off my bed and whisper his name down the hall, Ethan pranced away, heading into his bedroom and shutting the door. I sighed, rolling my eyes. I was curious, sure, but with Silver—well, as I said, I was better off not knowing. If he had been doing the nasty… I didn't want to know about it.

So, I retreated into my room, hiding out there and filling out all the applications despite my disinterest in them. I was tired from sitting in a car all day again, and the sun was beginning to set in the sky. But I stayed up anyway, filling out all the applications just for something to do until I wanted to go to bed. I _had_ gotten a lot of sleep the night before.

There was a loud buzzing noise, and I sighed. Who the hell was ringing at this hour? It was nine o'clock at night… normal people wouldn't be asleep, but they wouldn't be expecting visitors, either.

Right. It was probably just one of Silver's booty calls. My mistake.

I just sat on my bed, inking in the random bubbles on the forms, knowing that Silver would answer the door. But then the buzz rang again, and I jumped off my bed, leaning out of my room to see if Silver was going to answer it. The door to his room was shut tight, and the apartment was surprisingly quiet.

Well, if it wasn't Silver's female companion for the night, who was it?

I walked over to our intercom, pressing the button to let whoever was ringing up to the room. If it was one of Silver's girls after all, I could just send her down to his room—and if he was with a different girl, I had nothing to do with it.

I opened the door as soon as the person knocked, surprised to see who was standing there. It wasn't a female companion at all. Quite the opposite, actually…

"Blue!"

He appeared out of breath, panting as he leaned against my doorframe, and I stared at him, stepping out of the way to allow him inside the apartment. But he didn't move. He just looked up at me, his brown hair slightly wind-blown, and smiled. And that was all it took for me to feel that jumpstart in my heart—that smile.

How pathetic.

"How about we do lasagna now instead of later?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Happy Valentine's Day!

I think this is a nice chapter for Valentine's Day, don't you? Kind of a cute little ending. Of course, it just happened to work out that way. :) I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day (or Single's Awareness Day if you're like me and have no significant other). I actually think people should always be this nice, but… whatever. I don't want to complain, haha.

Anyway, enjoy! Next chapter… whenever. Haha. I'm being really bad about telling you when I'll update, but I'm just super unsure right now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Blue was right: he made a mean lasagna.

In fact, it was pretty much the best lasagna I had ever had in my entire life—and lasagna in general was pretty hard to make. But somehow, Blue managed to win me over with just a slice of the food. And then two slices… and then three. Between the two of us, we finished off an entire dish of lasagna by ourselves. I had probably eaten about two-thirds of it.

But, hey, didn't guys like girls with appetites?

Or one who could down that much lasagna at least?

"Oh, _man_, that was good," I said when we finished eating, collapsing on the couch in our little living room. I was so full now that I could explode, and eating that much had taken a lot out of me. I was exhausted! "How'd you learn to cook like that, anyway? Did you go to culinary school or something? Because you could open your own restaurant—it'd be phenomenal."

Blue just laughed, sitting down beside me on the couch. "Lasagna is my specialty. I'm just okay at everything else. But, you know, you can figure out a lot when you're living on your own. When I was trying to beat Red to the Indigo Plateau… I picked up a few things. And it's been practically a decade since then, so I guess I've improved."

I smiled, thinking about my own endeavors as I traveled alone all those years ago. I had never acquired the skills that he had. He really had something going for him, and I certainly wasn't going to ignore that. A man who could cook… he was putting stereotypes aside, and for that, I truly respected him.

"Are you planning on going back tonight? Because… you know, this couch is open. We don't have an extra room, unfortunately—I mean, you could take my bed, if you want, and I'll sleep on the couch. I don't really care. But it's getting to be really late, and I don't think you should go back." I bit my lip, blushing slightly. What was this? I didn't _blush_. "I mean… I don't… want you to go back. Yet. Unless you want to, I mean… But, uh…"

I covered my mouth with my hand, turning away in embarrassment. What the hell was that, Lyra? There was clearly something strange going on in my brain right now—this was horribly unlike me. I never got _flustered_. But looking at Blue, seeing his smile and his eyes looking so undeniably cute, it was having this strange effect on me.

He liked me. That much was obvious to me. I wasn't the best at catching onto stuff like that—in fact, before Silver and I started dating all those years ago, it took me months to figure out that all of his subtle hints meant that he liked me. But I could tell that Blue did. Now at least. I had known him for so long, and maybe the signs had been there for awhile. Yet it was so obvious now. Why else would he have come back for me?

And the fact that he _did_ come back for me… set my heart on fire. How could any girl not find that attractive? I would be out of my mind to say that I didn't like him. Sure, maybe I had always found Blue a tad obnoxious and pompous and overrated, but he had changed. He was mature. He could actually sit down with me and have a conversation as opposed to just hooking up with me because he thought I was hot.

Silver had to be wrong. And Blue was going to prove it.

Blue opened his mouth to respond, but a voice that did not belong to him spoke first: "You know, I've heard that if a guy doesn't kiss a girl on the first date, he isn't even worth it."

I looked up, staring at Silver with narrowed eyes. I thought he would leave Blue and me alone. I had managed to convince Ethan and Silver to stay in their rooms or away from the kitchen while Blue was here, but Silver didn't get it. What reason did he even have to come out of his lair now if he hadn't come out earlier? And he was one to talk; going by his philosophy, if a guy didn't sleep with a girl during the first date, he wasn't worth it, either.

"Silver, can I talk to you for a minute?" I demanded, standing up and walking around the couch to Silver. I glanced apologetically back at Blue, feeling sorry for Silver's comment. "I'll be back in just a minute. I… have to go scold the obnoxious pet. I'm really sorry—you can turn on the TV if you want. Just… please don't leave. I'll be right back."

I proceeded to drag Silver by the ear to the bathroom, shoving him inside and slamming the door behind me as I followed. Putting my hands on my hips, I raised my eyebrows at him, expecting him to tell me what the hell that was about. But, of course, he just rubbed his ear, sitting up on the bathroom counter and swinging his legs against the wooden drawers.

"Silver, come on! Make my life easy for a minute, okay?"

"I don't like him." Silver shrugged, and I froze, unable to force myself to say anything back. What was that in his voice? "I don't really know the guy at all, but there's just something about him that I don't like. There's not really a basis… it's just a guy thing—we know who to trust and who not to, and I'm just saying that Blue is a no-go."

I laughed, glancing at the closed door. "Oh, please. Like you have any right to say that. You're practically the epitome of bad boys, Silver. Sleeping with different girls every night, keeping your hair long, wearing that tight black t-shirt… having the whole I-don't-give-a-shit-so-why-should-you demeanor. If there is anyone here that I shouldn't trust, it's you, Silver. Blue's an angel in comparison. Besides, who are you to tell me who I should see or not?"

"Um, a friend? A roommate?" Silver looked almost incredulous now, and I furrowed my eyebrows. "And who are you to scream into the phone and scare off my girlfriend?"

I laughed again, finally catching on. It had taken me awhile, but I saw exactly what was happening here. "That is what this is about? Silver, she wasn't your 'girlfriend'." I made air quotations around the word with my fingers, stressing the word for his understanding—he could look it up in the dictionary later. "She was your booty call. And all I was trying to do was stop you from making a horrible mistake. Marriage isn't a joke. You can't just get married to anyone just to win a stupid contest, Silver. Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Why would you do _this_ to yourself?" Silver retorted, and I narrowed my eyes.

"Well, first of all, I don't even know if _this_—" I gestured to the door, turning my whole body just to face away from Silver "—is happening. I'm trying it out. But there's a huge difference between actually dating someone and just having sex. You get to know the person as opposed to… knowing their body. I'm not going to rush into this because of a contest. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back out there. I trust him, Silver. It doesn't matter if you don't."

I reached for the door handle, but before I could turn it, Silver grabbed my wrist. I turned back at him, putting my free hand on my hip, and he dropped my wrist.

"I'm telling you, Lyra. There's just something really off… it's not just me saying that because I want to win—because, let's face it, who wouldn't want to see you dressed like a slut?" I raised my eyebrows, putting both of my hands on my hips now. "I'm saying it as a friend who is concerned about you. Forget about the fact that I'm not really the most reliable person. Just think of me as a friend. Consider it."

"Silver…" I sighed, tugging at one of my pigtails. "I appreciate the concern. But… from now on, let's just call it a truce, okay?" I held out my hand, and he just stared at it. "I won't mess with your multiple female companions, and you won't mess with my only male companion. Okay? We need this to be fair. And don't try to get yourself into something you'll regret."

"That's what I'm trying to tell _you_." Silver grabbed my hand, but he just pulled me closer to him. This was so unlike him—the concern—and I couldn't help but be reminded of how he used to be. The boy who had once loved me—but I was so completely over him now, and he was over me, no matter what anyone said—compared to the man who just loved. "Don't get _yourself_ into something you'll regret."

I pulled my hand away, shaking my head. "You could learn something from him. And… that's what dating is for, Silver. I don't have to worry about getting myself into something I'll regret. Because if it doesn't work, I _won't_ regret anything. You've already given yourself up to everyone, so whatever regrets you have… it's a little late now."

"Come on, Lyra. That's completely unfair."

I narrowed my eyes, laughing at him. In spite of him. Because he was just embarrassing himself now. "No, it's not. I'm not being unfair at all. Because what you do—it's horrible. And if you think that there is _anything_ all right with sleeping around with half of the people in Johto, you're wrong. No honorable man would do that. And, another thing, the girls you have sex with—they're just as bad as you are. How does that make it feel? Better? Because I highly doubt it."

Silver looked taken aback, and I just shrugged. "How many guys have those girls slept with? How many girls have you slept with? Do you _know_ how disgusting that is? It's people like you why you think relationships don't exist anymore! Because you don't even take the time to get to know someone well enough to realize—oh, I don't actually want to have sex with you because you're a dirty whore who can't keep it to yourself. You just go into it before you can say no," I hissed, trying to keep my voice a little bit quieter.

"And what about you?" Silver asked, and I crossed my arms. "You think it's okay to mess with a guy's heart? Because contrary to popular belief, some of us actually have hearts. And do you think we want to get into a relationship that lasts months and months and then one day—oops. She doesn't want to be with you anymore?"

I sighed, holding up a finger. "Don't even bring us into it."

"I'm not!" Silver was yelling now, his voice rising angrily. I stepped back, walking until I hit the door. "If that's your idea of a relationship, you're wrong. You can't have a relationship without something else to base it on… and there's nothing. _That_ is why there are no relationships. Because commitment just doesn't exist."

"You have to make it work… commitment is a group effort, and if you both can't handle it, then…" I trailed off, unable to come up with another argument. "I don't know what to tell you, Silver. But you're wrong. It works for those who make it work."

"And what about the rest of us?"

I opened my mouth, ready to answer—but I couldn't. _What_ about the rest of them? The people who couldn't work it out? What did they do? It was a sad life to live by yourself, and I almost thought it was sadder to live it like Silver. But what else could he do? What about the rest of them…

"Silver, I need to get back out there…" I muttered in response, turning around and leaving the bathroom before he could stop me again.

But as I walked down the hallway towards the living room, Silver followed close behind. I ignored him, waving at Blue as I entered the living room, glad to see that he hadn't left. Silver and I had been in the bathroom together for so long that I almost thought Blue would get fed up and leave. But he stayed—for me.

Before I could walk any closer to the couch, Silver grabbed my wrist. I froze, glancing between him and Blue, until Silver spun me around and kissed me. I jumped in surprise, slapping him as soon as his lips touched mine, and he backed away, looking a little annoyed and a little pleased with himself at the same time.

I gasped, covering my mouth, realizing what this meant. But before I could even turn around and tell Blue to wait, to listen, I heard the front door slam. Blue had left. He _left_. All because of Silver.

"Sorry," Silver muttered as I hurried towards the door to follow Blue. "You wouldn't listen."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey, there!

This update seemed so far away from the last one, not gonna lie. Why the heck did this take so long? I mean, I guess it really wasn't that long considering I updated on Monday and it's only Friday, but considering I had updated Sunday and Monday, it seemed forever. I had so much work this week, so I couldn't update any faster.

So, that was kind of mean of Silver. But… think about it. Really think about it. Didn't Lyra basically do the exact same thing to Silver?

This is why we read the author's note, ya'll. Because you realize so much. XD Just kidding.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

I wanted to scream at Silver. To yell and yell until my voice completely vanished. To tell him how wrong he was—that even though I had done the same thing, I hadn't _hurt_ anyone. Was that girl, his booty call, really hurt by my call? Angry enough to leave, yes. But hurt? Probably not. And if she was, then I was sorry. I hadn't meant to force any emotional scarring upon her, and that certainly hadn't even occurred to me when I called.

But Silver knew. He knew he was hurting Blue's feelings when he kissed me.

I just didn't have time to fight with Silver now. I ran out the door without even saying a word to him, sprinting after Blue in the hopes of stopping him. He needed to know that I wasn't okay with Silver kissing me, that I actually liked _him_, not Silver. I wanted to make things work between us. Not just for competition's sake but for mine, too.

I flew down the stairs of the apartment, sliding along the handrails and nearly falling quite a few times. I could see a bit of brown hair through the window of the front door of our apartment complex, and I bolted through them, heading out into the night to stop Blue. I could tell just from his walking that he was angry, and when I finally reached him and grabbed his hand, he pulled away.

"Blue, stop." I grabbed his hand a second time, pulling him back towards me before he could tug his arm away again. He spun around, staring at me with narrowed eyes, his lips pursed. For a moment, I lost all of my courage, forgetting why I was down here chasing after him. The look on his face reminded me of what he had been—that arrogant, stubborn boy who never got what he wanted even though it was handed right to him.

"Please. I want this to work. I want _us_ to work. But I don't want you to leave—why did you think I asked you to stay?" I reached for his other hand, but he moved it behind his back, slipping his other hand out of my grip. I frowned, tugging at one of my pigtails. "Didn't you see me slap him? Come on, that was pretty good."

Blue sighed, and I smiled weakly, hoping that he would smile back. But he didn't.

"The two of you fight like an old married couple, you know," Blue started, and I bit my lip, seeing where this was going already. "I heard the two of you screaming at each other in the bathroom. I couldn't understand a single word either of you said, but I could hear the shouting. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who or what you were talking about. I think it's pretty clear to me…"

He trailed off, looking at the ground instead of at me. My hands were shaking, and I curled them into fists to try to stop it. But that only made the shaking worse. I stomped my foot angrily, like a child desiring a toy at a store, and Blue finally looked up at me. His brown eyes searched mine only for a moment before I closed mine and turned away from him.

"Enlighten me."

"Lyra, don't play games. I can see the way he looks at you—the way he looks at me. The way you look at each other. You can keep telling each other that you mean nothing to one another, but you mean more than you let on. Whatever you had before…" Blue sighed again, and my lip quivered. "It's not gone."

"Yes," I retorted, my voice shaking, "it is. I know what I feel, Blue, and it's gone. And if you want _us_ to work—like I do—then you have to believe me. Why did you come back if you didn't want to be with me? Why did you act like you cared? Why did you make lasagna? If you didn't want this to happen, then you wouldn't have come back."

I turned back around, reaching out and grabbing his shirt, pulling him closer to me. Standing on my toes, I stared him in the eye, our faces only inches apart. "Look at me, Blue. If you can honestly tell me that you don't feel anything when you look at me, I'll let you go. But I won't believe you. I know you'd be lying. You're jealous of Silver."

"I'm not jealous!" Blue shouted, and I narrowed my eyes, a tiny smile on my lips. His nose bumped mine as he fidgeted, and I dropped hold of his shirt, backing away from him. "All right, all right. Maybe I'm a little jealous, and that's why I ran off when he kissed you. And maybe I feel… _stupid_ when I'm around you… like everything I say is just incoherent. And maybe… I don't believe you, either."

"So, we're in agreement." I shoved my hands in my pockets, tired of arguing. "How about we make a deal? But first, I'm not going to let you go back to Pallet Town now. It's too late. So, just come back inside the apartment and sleep. If you want to go back to Pallet tomorrow, you can do that. And you can tell your grandfather that I'm still pissed at him for firing me…"

I managed to get a smile out of Blue, and I pointed at his face, laughing. "Oh, yes!"

He grabbed his jaw, rubbing it and trying to hide his smile behind his hand. "Shut up. Just tell me the deal."

"All right, don't get impatient." I crossed my arms, smiling at him. He continued to hide his mouth behind his hand, but I knew he was smiling back. "If you think I'm still in love with Silver—which I'm not—then show me that you're the one I want. Take me out… woo me. It's not like Silver does any of that…"

I raised an eyebrow at Blue, and he dropped his hand, mouth tight in a thin line. "You're crazy. Who comes up with stuff like that?" he asked, and I shrugged. "Let me tell you, Lyra. If you want to say no, just say it now. Don't play around if you think you're just going to say no later. I don't want to waste my time with you if you feel like you're wasting your time with me."

"I'm not saying no—"

"But you're not saying yes."

I threw my hands up in the air, staring at Blue incredulously. What the hell was he on, anyway? If this was a new form of crack, then I was clearly out of the loop. "You haven't even asked me out!"

"Fine. Fine! Lyra, do you want to go out with me?" Blue looked exasperated, and I stood silently for a moment, unable to do anything but stare at him. "Do you want to be my girlfriend? You're freaking crazy, and for such a skinny girl, you eat like a pig, and you're loud when you're drunk, and you come up with ridiculous plans… but I'm asking you out, anyway."

I smiled, laughing at all of his insults. "You know, I'd _have_ to be crazy after that to say yes. So, it's a good thing I am. Because I _want_ to say yes, Blue." I winked at him, turning around and running back towards the door of the complex. I turned back to see him standing in the exact same spot, not having moved an inch. "Come on, Slowpoke!"

"You're the strangest girl I've ever met, Lyra!" Blue called back, and I just laughed, pulling the door open and running back up the stairs. Blue met me at my front door, panting from sprinting up the stairs, but before I could open it, he grabbed my arm. "Promise me, Lyra. Don't play games. Guys actually have hearts, too."

The smile vanished from my lips, and I glanced at the door, as though I could actually see through it. Silver had said the exact same thing to me, hadn't he? _Because contrary to popular belief, some of us actually have hearts. And do you think we want to get into a relationship that lasts months and months and then one day—oops. She doesn't want to be with you anymore?_

I let my lips wobble for a moment as I tried to think of a response. "It's not a game."

_No_, I thought, watching the door wearily, _it's just a competition_. And was that worse? But I did like Blue, and I meant what I said—I wanted to say yes. I wasn't hopping into this for the sake of the competition, but I still wanted to win. Which was driving me harder? My desire to be with Blue or my desire to beat Silver?

I closed my eyes with a sigh, refusing to look back at Blue for fear of letting something slip from my eyes, and I opened the door. Silver was right where I left him, standing with a smug look on his face and his arms crossed. I ignored him, grabbing Blue's hand and pulling him back inside the apartment.

Was it wrong that I felt a sense of pride when I saw Silver's expression fall?

But was it also wrong that I really wanted to talk to him again? Sure, I just wanted to bitch him out for kissing me, but… even after what just happened, I wanted to talk. That was sure asking for it from Blue. Neither of them seemed to like each other very much at the moment, but I had too much to say.

"Let me get you some blankets and stuff for the couch," I said as my excuse, hoping that my smile was big enough to hide behind. Blue nodded, and I brushed past Silver towards the hallway, walking back into the bathroom to grab the blankets from the closet. Just as I had hoped, Silver followed, slithering past me and sitting down on the counter again.

"You are _so_ lucky, Silver. So, _so_ lucky. You just came _this_ close to ruining everything." I held up my hand, pinching my index finger and my thumb together. Silver just rolled his eyes, and I turned back to the closet. "Because I don't even care what you think. I like him. And if you're jealous, then that's your own fault—"

"I'm not—"

"Yes, Silver, you are. And I don't really understand why."

I found the blankets I was looking for, and I stood on my toes, trying to reach them. Silver jumped down off the counter, standing behind me and reaching above me to grab them for me. I turned around, facing him, but we were standing so close together. I backed up, pushing myself against all the toiletries and linens in the closet.

"Silver." I held out my hands, but he just grasped the blankets, staring at them and squeezing them so hard that I worried he would rip them. "Silver, come on, this isn't funny. Just give me the sheets. I'm already mad at you as it is, so I really don't want to have to kick you right where the sun don't shine. Because I will definitely do that."

"You did the exact same thing to me, so I don't know why you're so mad?"

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. "I already kicked you in the nuts?"

"No…" Silver shook his head at me, rolling his red eyes. "You got rid of my girlfriend. So, I got rid of your boyfriend. Apparently it didn't work quite as well as your tactic, but… same thing, right? You deserved it."

I gaped at him for a moment before gathering composure again. "What? Are you kidding me?" I grabbed the blankets from him, stealing them out of his hands as his grip relaxed. "Well, of course your tactic didn't work as well as mine. Because Blue actually likes me. He _actually likes me_. That girl… she meant nothing to you, and you meant nothing to her. She didn't want to be shared because she could go somewhere else and be just fine."

"You're selfish!" Silver snapped back, jabbing a finger into my sternum. "You think that you're the only one in the world, and you're not."

"Geez, will you be quiet? We're supposed to have called a truce. I'm not being selfish, Silver; I'm being realistic." I hugged the blankets against my chest, covering the spot where Silver had poked me, and frowned. "You know, I don't understand the way you think sometimes. It's such a pity. I'll see you around, Silver."

I turned, walking back out of the bathroom quickly enough that Silver wouldn't catch up and pull me back again. I sat down on the couch beside Blue before anything bad happened, laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. What had I gotten myself into? If Silver and I had never agreed to this competition, none of this would have happened.

Right?

"Here you go!" I said with a smile, handing the blankets over to Blue. "It's getting late. We should probably head off to bed. Tomorrow I have to go look for jobs…" I leaned my head back against the couch, groaning angrily. "I'm gonna get such an amazing job—Professor Oak will regret ever getting rid of me."

"He probably already does."

I smiled, picking my head back up to look at Blue. "I'm sorry. This day was as crazy as I am. But thank you for coming for me… and thank you for the lasagna. And—thank you for everything, I guess."

"You're welcome, and I'm also sorry." Blue rubbed the back of his neck, as if he didn't apologize often, and I stifled a laugh. "I actually wanted to punch the crap out of Silver when he kissed you, but I figured you wouldn't be very happy with me—so leaving was the only other thing I could think of. So, I'm sorry, too."

"Oh, trust me, if you ever get the urge to punch the crap out of Silver, don't resist," I muttered back. Then, sighing, I pushed myself up from the couch. "Goodnight, Blue."

I started to walk away, but as I reached the other side of the couch, Blue called my name. I turned back around, leaning against the couch. Blue folded his hands together, looking awkward, and for a moment, I thought he was going to make good on what Silver had told him: that a worthwhile guy kissed a girl at the end of the first date. But this wasn't really a date, and it had been silly if nothing else.

He didn't, anyway. Instead, Blue said, "One more thing… I know this is trivial, but… did you break up with Silver, or was it the other way around?"

I stood up straight again, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Actually… he broke up with me."

"Oh… all right."

I frowned, nodding. It wasn't the answer that Blue wanted—but it was the truth. And I knew exactly why he had asked. If I had been the one to break up with Silver, then it would appear more so that I was over Silver. But the other way around meant that feelings could still be around. And it made sense, didn't it?

"Goodnight, then, Lyra."

All I could do was nod again before walking to my room and going to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** "Wait, Liz, whaaaaat?"

I foresee that as the response I'm going to get from most people. "What do ya mean Silver broke up with Lyra? Hadn't the opposite been said?" Well, sort of: _Because contrary to popular belief, some of us actually have hearts. And do you think we want to get into a relationship that lasts months and months and then one day—oops. She doesn't want to be with you anymore?_

It sounds like Lyra broke up with Silver, doesn't it? But it's actually the other way around. Unless Lyra is lying. Which, you know, is a possibility. Every word Lyra says could be a lie, in fact. This is first-person—it's full of biases!

So, yup. You'll see.

Sorry this update was so long. I had a busy week filled with contest results, pageants, homework, and drama galore! It was very exciting, haha. The next update should hopefully be quicker.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

_I stood on my toes to kiss my boyfriend, but I didn't receive the typical enthusiastic response I usually got whenever I came home from night school. As I wrapped an arm around his neck, he stiffened, and for a few seconds while I kissed him, I pretended I didn't notice. But when he never kissed me back, and it remained very one-sided, I pulled away from him and crossed my arms nervously. I had never received this kind of response from him before, and we hadn't been fighting lately._

"_Silver… what's wrong?" I asked, rubbing my arms. Silver avoided my gaze, something I couldn't pretend not to notice, and I touched his chin gently. "Hey, you can tell me. We promised not to let anything build up last time we got into a fight, remember? So, if you have something to say to me, I won't get angry about it. We can work through whatever it is… okay?"_

_Silver nodded, but he still didn't say anything. He looked uncomfortable, but I knew it wasn't the setting that was making him so. I glanced around the house, narrowing my eyes at the furniture. My mother had agreed to allow Silver to stay at our house since he had nowhere else to go, and since he worked and I attended night school, we were rarely in the house, anyway. But the house was familiar to him, and he had just as much freedom there as I did. So, what was making him this way?_

"_Lyra, I don't know how to say this." He paused, and I stood silently, not interrupting or pushing for more information. I half expected him to continue after a deep breath, but several deep breaths later, he still hadn't continued. Maybe he _really_ didn't know how to say what he needed to say. He was a man of few words, anyway, a teenager who didn't like to talk, but this was unusual. I didn't know how to react, so I continued to stand silently, waiting patiently._

_He finally sighed, putting his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes. When he finally looked at me, his eyes were red and his expression dark. "I want to break up. I can't be with you anymore."_

_I didn't say anything still. Now, I was in more of a state of shock, surprised by his admittance, and I couldn't force myself to respond. Tears began to form in my eyes instead. What did that mean? How could he possibly want to break up with me when we were _meant_ to be together? Ever since that first battle—it was destiny, wasn't it? We had to be together. And we had been for awhile now._

_Finally, I managed to find my voice, however squeaky and pathetic it sounded. "Silver… are you joking around with me? Because this isn't really funny. But… I can't really see why you would be saying this if you weren't joking. It doesn't make any sense. You sound like you're going insane. I love you—don't you love me, too? Please don't do this, Silver."_

_I stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing his shirt, trying to pull him towards me, to keep him with me. But he slipped out of my grip just as soon as I held him, tugging his shirt away from me and backing against the wall. There was something strange in his eyes, something that I didn't recognize, and I gasped. None of this made any sense, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes now. He wasn't joking; all of what he said—just those two simple sentences—was what he truly meant to say._

"_I'm not joking." His voice was hard, serious. I gaped at him, so surprised that all I could do now was squeak like a little fool. He gestured over to the couches, and I walked slowly, noticing the bags sitting on them. "I've already packed. Tell your mom that I said thanks. She's been really good to me, and I really do appreciate it. But I think it's time I left. For good."_

"_What about me?" I demanded, running around the couch to grab the bags, figuring that if I held them hostage, he wouldn't be able to leave. My logic was a tad skewed; Silver happened to be a good head taller than me and far more muscular. In other words, I stood no chance against him. "Haven't I been really good to you? I don't even know why you're leaving! At least give me a reason!"_

"_Yeah. You've been good. I'm just done," he responded, taking the bags from me with little effort. I just stood there, completely dumbfounded, and watched him walk out my front door._

When I awoke, I was panting, sweaty from tossing and turning in my sleep. My sheets had all fallen off my bed, piled up on the carpeted floor. One of my pillows had wedged itself under my armpit, and the other moved by my feet, cradled between my legs. My eyes were moist with the tears that I had been crying in my dream, and I touched my face, leaving my hand touched to the trail on my cheeks. I felt, to say the least, particularly awkward. And what a night that had been!

It had been a long time since I had thought about "the breakup". Since then, Silver and I had obviously made up, though never to the extreme that we ever got back together. I forgot all about our romantic relations for the longest while, convinced that if I forgot, then it never had happened at all. But things didn't work that way.

Ethan first offered the deal of sharing an apartment to me only. He said that he had found a nice apartment complex that could comfortably fit the two of us in separate rooms: a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with a nice little kitchen and a tiny living room. But at that time, Silver and I were just reacquainting ourselves, and I felt obligated to bring him into the deal. Silver had nowhere else to go again.

But Silver hadn't yet fallen into habit of ravishing—hopefully not by force—women every single night when he first agreed to the deal. In fact, most days he sat around the house, looking particularly bored while Ethan and his girlfriend went out and I went to work. This had been a few years back.

I didn't even realize when I first began working for Professor Oak that Blue was the same Blue that I had battled years ago—though, appearance and name aside, his stubbornness and narcissism should have given him away. I honestly disliked Professor Oak's grandson, and when I finally made the connection of who he was, I hated him more for giving me such a hard time all those years ago.

But he matured. Unlike Silver, he grew up, leaving behind his horrid habit and even more obnoxious criticisms that I had begun to find all too familiar. When I went back to Professor Oak's lab and found Blue as a handsome young adult who actually cared about his work, I was a little impressed. But never so much so that I thought twice about it.

So, when did things change for him? Why would he have chosen me, a girl who had obviously been annoyed with his egotistical personality, when he could have had a girl just as stuck up as he was? Any of the girls that Silver slept with, really, probably would have liked Blue. Yet he fancied me, no one else, and it just didn't make sense. Wasn't I so immature in comparison, a girl three years his junior, always complaining?

Yet here we were, dating like there had never been any problems to begin with. It struck me a little odd, actually, how similar my relationship with Blue was to my relationship with Silver. I hadn't liked either of them when I first met them, and it was only after they grew up did I finally give them a chance. But the doppelgangers eventually split paths, meeting that fork in the road and going their own ways. Silver grew up and fell right back down.

Things between Blue and I now were simple. Even "simple" wasn't the right word to describe it. There wasn't really anything I could say to explain how things moved between us. He hadn't even kissed me yet—despite Silver's insistence that a guy wasn't worth it if he didn't kiss his girl at the end of a date—and we had been on plenty of dates.

I didn't mind. For the first week of our relationship, I didn't want to push anything, and we felt more like friends than anything else. It was a good feeling, knowing that the person you were dating was like a friend; and when the time came for us to get those extra benefits, then that was fine with me. My only exception was sex. That would have to wait.

Not that I could foresee that at the rate we were going. Plus, after that first week passed, Blue had to return back to Pallet Town to get back to work. He hugged me—and hugged me only—when he left, his brown eyes saying what he didn't have to. And then he was gone. We couldn't have slept together if we wanted to anymore.

"Interesting character, Blue is," Ethan told me after Blue left. "He's a good cook."

"He's okay," Silver responded, his voice dry.

Silver's presence at the house hadn't helped with the fact that Blue wouldn't kiss me. Around the house, I could see Blue tense up whenever Silver came into a room, if only because he was afraid of what Silver might try and pull again. But Silver was so forgotten now, so completely out of my mind, and I didn't think about him.

Until I dreamt about our breakup. Then… I couldn't get him out of my head. It never really made sense to me why we broke up, and I never pushed it. In fact, _Silver_ never made sense to me. Why he made the decisions he did… it was as if some other guiding force made them for him. There had to be something…

I just didn't know what it could be, and it wasn't my job to find out.

"_Yeah. You've been good. I'm just done."_

But what did that mean? It might not have been my job to find out what the hell was going on within Silver's head, but I was still curious. If I had been good to him, why were we finished? What did he mean that he was done? Done with what?

And it was stupid to think it was one of those horrible "it's not you, it's me" situations. Because who actually believed that anymore? "It's not you, it's me" just meant "it is actually your fault; I just don't feel like being mean to you". I wasn't okay with that. If I had ever done anything wrong in our relationship, I wanted to know. Because I wasn't ever going to make the same mistake. Not on Blue. Not again.

Screw Silver, and screw everything he had done. I had more important things to worry about now than him… like my current boyfriend. The one who I was putting everything on the line for—because if I lost him, I almost knew that Silver would win. It was horrible—and I felt horrible—for thinking that. But wasn't it okay for me not to want him to win? For his own well-being…

It was bad. This whole thing was ridiculous.

But the longer Blue was gone, the longer I kept thinking about Silver.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry, kind of a boring—yet important—chapter.

Lent is coming up, so I have to give something up (starting Wednesday). The only reason I bring this up is because when my roommates and I were discussing it, one of them asked what I was going to give up. I hadn't thought about it yet, and she suggested writing. I just about died laughing.

What would happen if I gave up writing? I think I'd go into, like, a fit or something. XD

I've had no motivation to do schoolwork this past week. This is really bad. I'm not really one to procrastinate, so this is totally bad. But it's only because spring break is coming up, so I'm just, like, so tired of schoolwork. You know? Oh well. It's not like I don't get my work done.

Also, if you go to my deviantART page, I have videos up with commentary about the process of writing this chapter. I sound really terrible (the sound quality is just okay, and I had just woken up), but I think it's kind of interesting. Just search "LizHollow video" and it will come up—if you want to watch it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

"Silver!"

I banged on his bedroom door three times, immediately putting my hands on my hips afterward to give myself a stern appearance. I highly doubted Silver would take me very seriously, anyway, so I had to try as hard as I could to show him that I meant business—and by business, I just needed to tell him to keep his mouth shut and… other things, too. For once. However unlikely this was, I figured it was worth a try to ask, anyway.

"What can I do you for?" he asked as he opened the door, leaning against the doorway in a slightly provocative way that I attempted not to notice. It didn't help that he was only in his boxers—again—and I could clearly see that little trail of hair going down to his— "It isn't often I have the pleasure of seeing your shining face this early in the morning."

I swallowed, shaking my head and forcing myself to stare at his red eyes instead. But there was a tiny smile on his lips, and I knew that he had noticed where I had been staring. It wasn't my fault. Any other girl would have stared, too. His abs and that little line of hair and his boxers and his strong-looking arms… I could kind of understand how it was hard for girls to resist.

All you had to do was wait for him to talk, and then it was easy.

"Silver… it's twelve o'clock in the afternoon. It's not really early in the morning at all." I backed away from the door, leaning against the wall of the hallway. Silver continued to lean against the door frame, the smile still there. "I just wanted to warn you that Blue is coming over in a few minutes. He's going to help me look for a job, and then we're going out to dinner. And more likely than not, he'll be staying over here tonight, so I just wanted to ask that you _not_ bring home any of your girls. Just one night… please."

Silver looked at his hands, picking at one of his finger nails. "Oh, it's not plural anymore," he said, and I raised my eyebrows. He glanced back at me, dropping his arm back to his side and grinned again. If he meant what I thought he meant… then I could be a little screwed (not literally). "I mean, it's not _girls_. It's one girl."

"What?" I muttered, and Silver's grin became smug. He looked rather proud of himself, and in a sense, I was proud of him, too. Going from sleeping with hundreds of girls to limiting himself to the same one repeatedly was an improvement for him. But it also meant more commitment, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Guess who's off the market." Silver winked at me, smacking the door frame and backing away into his room again. All I could do was gape at him. "But, I mean, I suppose I could cancel our plans for tonight if Blue is coming over. Wouldn't want the house to get _too_ loud. You guys are getting a little too crazy, I think."

I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms and following Silver into his room. The bed was pretty much torn apart, the sheets lying in a pile at the foot of the bed. I tried not to pay much attention to it, but I couldn't avert my eyes as I walked into the room. It was only when Silver grabbed a pair of pants that my gaze moved.

"Very funny," I finally said, and Silver grabbed a shirt from one of his drawers, putting it in the pile with the pants.

"How long has it been now? A month since you guys started dating?" Silver walked closer, holding his clothes just low enough against him that I could still see his abs and that little line of hair. "And he hasn't even kissed you, has he? He's been in Kanto for most of this relationship. Doesn't that concern you a little bit? I mean, it's one thing to do what I do… and it's another to just… not do anything. Aren't you worried?"

I crossed my arms, laughing dryly. "It's our one month anniversary today. That's why he's coming. So, I don't see why I should be concerned. We're taking things slow. And, you're right, it is one thing to do what you do—and that's not the way we're making this relationship work. So, can you just control your brain before you speak tonight? Just leave Blue alone if you're going to say something…"

Silver didn't like this. He narrowed his eyes at me, folding his arms so his clothes finally blocked the view of his chest and stomach. "Um, well, I'm just trying to make sure you don't get hurt, Lyra. Like I said, there's something weird about Blue. And I just think it's really odd that he hasn't even made a move on you, yet. He's a _guy_."

"Yeah, and not all guys are as sexually demanding as you are," I snapped, and Silver laughed. "I know you might find it hard to believe, but I can like a guy who actually wears pants and a shirt and doesn't make out with me and lives across the country in Kanto. It's possible, Silver! So, I don't know why you want to make it _im_possible. Why do we always have to have this fight? It's getting really old really fast."

"Lyra, I just—"

A loud buzz interrupted Silver's excuse, and I shook my head at him before leaving his bedroom, heading over to the intercom to let Blue up. I pushed the button, saying a quick greeting to him before letting him come upstairs. It took him only a moment, and I smiled when I heard the knock on the door. The butterflies in my stomach only assured me that I had really missed Blue while he was gone.

"Hey," Blue greeted as I opened the door, and he was the first one to set down his luggage and hold out his arms for me. I laughed, throwing myself into his arms, and Blue's chuckle made the butterflies move again. He let go of me all too quickly, but I just smiled. "Happy one month! I'm sorry that I haven't been around for most of that month, but… Gramps…"

"That's okay. You actually have a job," I said with a smile, glancing at the coffee table in the living room with about a dozen of my job applications on it. "And I'm glad you could make it over today, anyway. Thank you for helping me look for jobs. It's been really hard, and I've been getting frustrated… no one is calling me back after the interviews…"

Blue just frowned, shaking his head as he picked his suitcase back up and walked into the apartment. "It's all Gramps' fault. If he hadn't fired you in the first place, you wouldn't be in this situation. I hope he feels guilty about it…"

"Well, it's all right. I'll just have to keep looking."

And look we did. Our reservation for dinner wasn't until six that night, so we had all day to fly around looking for jobs. As much as I hated the job hunt, taking to the sky with Blue on our Pokémon was exciting. His wind-blown hair still looked befitting, and the smile he wore when he was with his Pidgeot was beautiful.

I picked up and delivered several applications during our time out, but I found the two of us spending more and more time in the sky after each stop. Our Pokémon weren't exhausted in the least, so Blue and I both leaned against them, our cheeks resting on the feathers of our birds, and talked to each other about everything and anything.

Except the one thing I was curious about now: why Blue wouldn't kiss me. I wasn't overly concerned about that until Silver brought it up. I had thought of it, certainly, and the thought was always there whenever I _did_ get to see Blue. But that was just something that I let go—but what was he really doing over there in Kanto?

No. I wouldn't let Silver get to me like that. That was completely unfair.

Six o'clock finally rolled around, and in our wind-blown, messy state, we walked into the fancy restaurant to wait to be seated. We laughed it off, trying to ignore the fact that every other couple at the restaurant was dressed to the nines, since it was, after all, only our one month anniversary. It wasn't like we really needed to dress up for this. And if people wanted to stare, then they could stare. Two ex-Champions looking like slobs out on a date… no big deal.

We ordered, we ate, we talked, we laughed. But I couldn't stop my mind from returning to the same place again and again. If Silver had wanted to distract me, then he had succeeded in doing so. I didn't know which was worse: messing with me physically or messing with me mentally. Because I couldn't stop thinking about what he said.

Blue noticed that something was off. After the waiter cleared our dinner dishes, Blue folded his hands, leaning across the table towards me. "Hey, what's up? Tired after all that flying around? Can't keep up with me, can you?" He grinned, and I smiled weakly, rubbing the back of my head nervously. Sure… I could go with that.

But he still noticed, and the smile disappeared from his face. "Oh. Silver bothering you again? Remind me why he lives with you?"

I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms at the mention of my roommate's name. "I need to remind myself every day, too…" I muttered. "It's not that, though. I mean, it's partially that. If there's ever anything wrong, you can usually trace it back to Silver. You heard about Team Galactic in Sinnoh? They had silver clothing… silver is like Silver's name. That automatically makes it his fault…"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm just saying." I uncrossed my arms, leaning my cheek on one of my hands instead. "He just… mentioned something, and I think he kind of has a point. I know I shouldn't really take anything he says too seriously, and you shouldn't, either. But he has these rare—and I mean very rare, practically once in a lifetime—moments of intelligence when he just… makes sense. And then you can't stop thinking about those moments… or the moments when he makes zero sense."

Blue leaned up from the table, furrowing his eyebrows. "_You're_ not making any sense, Lyra. What are you trying to say?"

"You like me, right?" I continued, and Blue looked taken aback before nodding. "I mean, I think we have a good time together. Even in the most boring of times, like trying to find job opportunities, together… we make it fun. And even though we haven't really been together, physically, that long while we've been dating, I'm just a little worried that—"

"Worried?"

"Here's your check. There's no rush," the waiter interrupted, setting the bill down in between the two of us. Blue reached for it before I could even move, but he didn't open it. He waited for the waiter to leave, staring at me the whole time, then set the check down in front of him without opening it.

"Lyra, I was wrong. The stuff I said about you being in love with Silver… I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions because I was jealous," Blue started before I could continue, and I sat up straighter in my chair out of pure surprise. "And if I've done anything—"

I held up a hand, and Blue cut off, pursing his lips. "No, I'm sorry. You got yourself caught up in one dysfunctional family, and I'm really sorry about that. Ethan handles Silver a lot better than I've ever been able to, and maybe that's a guy thing. I don't know. You don't need to apologize. That was a month ago." I smiled, holding my hand out towards him instead, hoping to change the topic. "Want me to get that?"

Blue looked down at the bill to make sure that was what I was referring to (what else could I have been referring to?). "Oh, no, I've got it."

So, he paid the bill without saying anything else, leaving a generous tip to our waiter as if apologizing for the way we had dressed to the nice restaurant. He didn't bring up the topic of interest—that I knew he was still thinking about—while we sat and waited for change, and it wasn't until we got outside and let our Pokémon out that he said something.

"Why are you worried?"

I smiled, brushing my hair behind my ear. "I was hoping you'd forget I said anything about that," I admitted, and Blue clicked his tongue. "I'm just worried that you're not as into me as I am into you. Because I really like you, Blue. I get this weird happy feeling in my gut whenever I see you, and I really hate it whenever you leave…"

"I get that, too—"

"Then why don't you act like it?" I bit my lip, covering my mouth with my hand out of surprise. Had I really just asked that? I lowered my hand, frowning. "It's just… you always seem to keep me guessing, Blue. And I don't want to have to guess anymore. The suspense is just about killing me. I want the cliffhanger cleared up."

Blue obviously didn't know how to respond to this. He stared at me in silence for a moment, running a hand quickly through his messy hair. This only made it messier, but I wasn't sure I had ever seen it combed neatly before in all my years of knowing him. There was just something about the disheveled look that was hot.

"Well, geez, Lyra… if I knew what you wanted, I wouldn't keep you in suspense."

"Oh." I laughed, petting the feathers of my Noctowl. "It's just… it's been a month, and you've never… you know… kissed me. Not that I'm trying to rush things!" I held up my hands, staring at them instead of at Blue. "Because I'm not. I'm just saying that—"

Blue grabbed my hands, his large hands completely overtaking my small ones, and I stopped, watching our hands. "Sorry to make you wait, then," he whispered, and before I could say anything else, he leaned his face into mine, our lips connecting. He dropped my hands, moving his own down to my hips and placing them there. I wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him into me. His body molded into mine, and I moved my other hand into his already-messy hair.

I didn't know how long we stood there, our tongues in each other's mouths, but it seemed to go on forever. I had never been kissed like this before, so passionately, so fiery, and I could feel those butterflies in my stomach swarming, becoming a mob. I gasped for air, breathing heavily through my mouth, and Blue laughed before continuing to kiss me.

Something told me he had been holding this back for awhile…

We didn't stop until we heard someone clear their throat. I dropped my hands, stepping away from Blue and wiping my mouth as I turned around to face whoever had caught us. The hostess from the restaurant narrowed her eyes at us, folding her hands together and forcing a smile at us. I bit my lip in embarrassment.

"Sorry to interrupt, but could you please move somewhere else if you're going to do that? Our guests would like to enjoy their meals," the hostess said, gesturing to the large window that looked right into the restaurant—all of the people eating their meals next to the window were staring at us. They must have seen the whole thing…

"Oh…" I laughed awkwardly, hurrying over to my Noctowl. "We were just leaving." Blue nodded in agreement, walking over to his Pidgeot.

"Right. Have a nice… night." The hostess raised her eyebrows, chuckling to herself before turning around and walking back into the restaurant. Blue and I glanced at each other, our eyes wide, before I broke out laughing.

And it was all Blue and I could do to not laugh the entire way home.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Lemme tell you, trying to find a job is totally frustrating and boring. But I kind of would not want to go with someone to try to do it. I'd be so distracted, haha. And Lyra and Blue were totally getting distracted.

Hot, hot, hot, oh baby, hot, hot, hot.

That's all I gotta say.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

I shouldn't have taken Blue to my room. But I didn't think anything of it until after we were already there.

I shut the door behind us as Blue and I made our way into my bedroom. Neither of us hit the lights, so the room was dark, and we felt our way through the blackness to find my bed. I still didn't think anything of it. My mind was a little preoccupied, and as I sat down on the edge of my bed, I couldn't think of anything but Blue.

He kissed me more fiercely than he had outside the restaurant, a sort of desperation fighting from within him. Putting his arms on either side of me on the bed, he leaned into me, our noses touching and our lips molded together. I reached both of my hands up to his face, holding him as he shoved his tongue into my mouth, dancing with mine like a well-choreographed ballet. But I had no idea what I was doing. Blue was running the show.

I fell back on my bed, and Blue crawled on top of me, kneeling above me so that our bodies were barely touching. But I could feel his knees next to mine, his hands now resting beside my head as we continued kissing, our breath becoming quickly uneven. It was like a song, our breath coming out in short and consistent intervals like a harmony, this whole night a single performance that could make or break us.

But I still wasn't really thinking about anything else. Even as Blue's lips left mine and moved along my cheekbone, down to my ear, and along my collarbone, I didn't think where this could lead. This was just fun, more intense than anything else I had ever experienced, and I was kind of enjoying it. That feeling I got when I was with Blue—it exploded now.

I allowed a whimper to escape my lips as Blue tickled my collarbone with his lips, and I moved one of my hands under his shirt. The soft skin of his stomach felt like silk, the toughness of his abs like bricks. And when his hands moved to my own stomach, I still didn't think anything. His lips made their way back to mine, and I reached my free hand back to his cheek.

I only thought something of it when his hands moved to my belt buckle on my jeans. As he fumbled with it, trying to get it undone, I realized _exactly_ where this was going. And while I thought a month was a little too long to wait to be kissed—and perfect for being kissed like _this_—a month was too _soon_ for anything else. It was only a month, only a measly thirty-one days, and he wasn't Silver. I wasn't one of those girls.

So, I moved my hand from Blue's cheek to his chest, pushing him a little away. "Blue," I said as our lips disconnected. It didn't take long for them to meet again. I pushed him further away, moving my body a little uncomfortably beneath him. Our lips broke apart again, and I struggled to catch my breath before I spoke again. "Blue, stop."

"What?" he asked, still kneeling over me but actually listening to me. I moved further across my bed, pulling myself out from under him and sitting up. He sat down on the bed, sitting on his knees, with a quizzical look on his face. It didn't take me long to figure out why he was confused. The bedroom wasn't the most normal spot to go to in order to just make out.

I smiled weakly at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on like that. I just… kind of wanted to go somewhere a little more private than the living room since Silver and Ethan are here. So, it was either here or the bathroom, and… well, the bathroom isn't the most romantic spot in the apartment. Sorry." I grabbed his hands, squeezing them gently. "I would like to wait. You're a great guy, but I don't feel comfortable going to that level in our relationship yet."

Blue just grinned at me, squeezing my hands back. "Okay. No, that's completely all right, Lyra. I'm glad you told me," he said, and he sounded genuine about it. He leaned his forehead against mine, our noses touching. "Don't be afraid to tell me what you want or don't want, Lyra. I don't want to force you into anything you're not ready for."

"Thank you, Blue," I whispered. He wiggled his nose against mine, a little Eskimo kiss between us. I laughed, moving my head up to kiss him on the lips. He held my face in his hands, cradling me so gently, and as we broke apart, he ran his thumbs along my cheeks. I couldn't keep a smile off my face, so impressed by Blue's response.

But it brought my mind back to Silver. I felt guilty about it, thinking about Silver at a time like this. He hadn't even crossed my mind when Blue and I had been making out, but now that Blue had approved of my wish, Silver's face popped up. Because _he_ wouldn't have waited. At least, not as the man he was now.

I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to not think about Silver. But now that he had appeared in my thoughts, I couldn't get rid of him. I felt anger, rage at the way Silver acted now, and all of the happiness I had felt bursting between Blue and I earlier was gone. And why did none of those girls that Silver slept with have morals? Didn't they care?

I was, admittedly, probably a rare breed of girl. It wasn't often that you heard of a girl in her twenties who hadn't lost her virginity yet, and while I didn't preach abstinence, I _did_ think that sex wasn't something to joke about. Why engage in something so intimate, and consequential, if you didn't _feel _anything? But most girls did.

So, I didn't want to just go at it now with Blue just because we could. I figured, honestly, that Blue had lost his V-card already; his handsome appearance and cool demeanor was probably a turn-on for a lot of girls—even me now that he had grown up a bit—and I wouldn't have been surprised. But that didn't intimidate me. I wanted to _love_ Blue before we did anything. And a month just wasn't long enough to love someone.

I just wanted romance. Was that too much to ask?

Besides, I didn't want to sink to Silver's level. Part of the deal we had made was that we would go at this contest in our own ways. That meant that I would stick with my relatively chaste methods of wooing, and if that turned out to be the better deal, I was okay with that. And if Silver ended up engaged first, well, I would be shocked. But it could happen.

"Well, now that I've completely killed the moment," I said with another laugh, brushing Blue's hair out of his eyes, "I think it's time we head off to bed. I already got the blankets out for you—they're sitting on the couch." I let my gaze travel over towards my door, and now that my vision had adjusted to the darkness, I could actually see. "Do you need help with anything?"

Blue smiled back at me, his eyes flashing. "I think I'm all set."

I jumped off my bed, stumbling to my feet. Blue rose to his feet more gracefully than I had, and as we reached the door, he grabbed my hand. I glanced at him for a moment, turning my eyes away as I reached for the handle. Pushing the door opened, I stepped out into the hallway first, fingers still entwined with Blue's.

The two of us froze as Silver stepped out of the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth and—again with no shirt on. I forced a smile, brushing a hand through my obviously messy hair. Blue cleared his throat, saying a quick greeting to Silver. He dropped my hand, walking down the hallway towards the living room.

Well, it didn't take a genius to figure out what it _looked_ like happened in there. And since Silver was no genius, he could probably piece it together and make a quick assumption. By the look he was giving me, he definitely thought something had happened in my bedroom. I was a little disgusted that he looked impressed.

I scowled, brushing past him and entering the bathroom. Grabbing my toothbrush, I put toothpaste on it and shoved it in my mouth. So long as the two of us had our mouths busy, we didn't have to talk. And that was preferable. Silver couldn't ask any questions if he couldn't talk—but… maybe I needed to clear things up.

Silver came back into the bathroom after me, bumping me out of the way and leaning towards the sick to spit. Turning the water back on, he grabbed a cup and gurgled some water. Obnoxiously. And when he leaned back down to spit again, the water went splashing, a drop or two of his spit getting on the mirror. I rolled my eyes as Silver wiped it off with his fingers, smudging the clear glass.

"So… you and Blue…" Silver said, raising his eyebrows at me.

I spit out my toothpaste, washing my toothbrush off. "It's always been me and Blue, hasn't it?" I asked, though I knew exactly what he was referring to. "No, nothing happened. We were just… making out. Not that it's any of your business, Mr. Nosy. You should be minding your own business. You knew he was coming here tonight. I told you."

"Yeah, I just didn't think he'd be in your room." Silver held up his hands defensively as I glared at him through the smudged mirror. "Going from, 'Oh, I don't care if he kisses me or not' to _that_ in one day sounds a little fishy to me." His voice grew squeaky as he attempted to mimic me, and I put my hands on my hips.

"_That_ was nothing. And who cares if he was in my room? I'm a grown woman, Silver. I can take care of myself. You know all about that." I tapped his shoulder as I walked around him to get to the medicine cabinet.

Silver made a _humph_ noise, crossing his arms. "I didn't doubt it. But if he ever goes too far if you don't want to, I will definitely take care of him for you, Lyra. Don't do what you don't want to do. As fun and thrilling as I think it is, I know what people are like. There are guys out there who aren't quite as… accepting. I'm not sure you're the kind of girl who is okay with being taken advantage of. If he does, let me know."

I furrowed my eyebrows, slightly impressed by Silver's concern. There were times when I hated it, when I just wanted to shove my fingers in my ears and sing when he spoke, but this… he sounded more like a friend than he had in a long time. The concern was almost touching. Almost. But it wasn't quite enough to make me falter.

"Wow, okay…" I muttered, attempting so sound a little annoyed. I grabbed my face moisturizer from the cabinet and dabbed it on my face. "Thanks, but Blue is very understanding. I don't think we're going to have a problem. Especially not one that will need _your_ help fixing. So, thanks but no thanks."

A knock on the bathroom door made me jump, almost dropping my moisturizer. I caught it before it dropped, holding it carefully as I looked at Blue in the doorway. I had forgotten the door was open… hopefully he hadn't heard _too_ much. It wasn't as if anything either of us had said was bad, but Silver's concern could have been insulting.

"Mind if I just brush my teeth and stuff?" Blue asked, wiggling a toothbrush and toothpaste in his hands.

"I'm all done, anyway," Silver said, his voice hard, and he slid past Blue. "'Night."

"'Night, Silver." I frowned, rubbing the moisturizer into my skin. Really… all I wanted was for things to be _normal_ again. And I was sure Blue wanted things to not be so complicated with Silver. "I'm all done, too. See you in the morning."

I brushed past Blue without a goodnight kiss or a hug or anything. I just retreated to my room, too defeated to know what else to do.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm pretty sure I've updated with something every single day this week except for Monday. I think this spring break has been quite productive! I'm heading back to school on Sunday, and I don't know if I'll be able to write anything tomorrow, so another update (of anything) might not be until Monday or Tuesday.

Notice how I am carefully avoiding the topic of the make out scene at the beginning? XD Those things will be the death of me…

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

"A triple date? You're kidding, right?"

I crossed my arms, staring at Ethan with a look of disbelief. Unlike Silver, Ethan didn't flaunt the fact that he had a girlfriend, and I hadn't actually had a conversation with the girl. I didn't even know her name. Ethan kept her quietly to himself, and when he brought her here to the apartment, it was usually when no one else was around.

Silver, on the other hand, was obnoxiously declaring to the world how much his girlfriend—if one could even call her that—"rocked". That was right. She "rocked". But _she_ didn't have a name, and I had never seen the girl. All I knew about her was that she and Silver made a lot of noise at night and that she "rocked". And that was it.

But apparently this was, according to Silver, getting serious. (I had always thought that getting serious meant falling in love, but for Silver, maybe it was something else.) The two had been together for a little over a month now, which, I had to admit, was impressive. Maybe there was something different about this girl. Or maybe there was just something else.

Meanwhile, as Blue and I reached two-and-a-half months with our relationship, I was beginning to feel a pang in my stomach where the butterflies used to be. He returned to Pallet Town the day after our date for our one-month anniversary, and I hadn't seen him since. The only communication I had with him was a phone call every night before I went to sleep, but that never really left me feeling any better. I wanted to _see_ him.

We had made plans to go out for our two-month anniversary, to a restaurant that hadn't witnessed our make out session, but he had to cancel. And whenever we attempted to make plans again, there was always something else going on. Work, he said. But the more he said that, the more it was starting to freak me out. Because I didn't want to believe Silver was right.

So, I trusted Blue. I put all of my faith into him because I couldn't bring myself to put any into Silver. And Blue had been the one to ask me out, technically speaking. He was the one who always called me every night. Plus, I firmly believed that Professor Oak was capable of keeping his grandson busy, especially with me gone. There was twice the work for one person now, and that person happened to be Blue.

"I'm not joking," Ethan said, shoving his hands in his pockets and bringing me out of my train of thought. "You're just as curious as I am, aren't you, Lyra? I mean, how awesome would it be to finally figure out who this mystery girl Silver is dating is? I'm sure after spending so much time with Silver, she'd like to meet his roommates. Don't you think?"

I laughed, putting a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "You're one to talk. You've been dating your mystery girl for a long time, and I have no idea who she is."

Ethan grinned, sliding himself out of my grip. He looked a little guilty, so I knew I had made a valid point. "Ah, but I'm not like Silver. It's not as weird for me to have a girlfriend. And it's not like I haven't tried to get you to meet her. You've always had work in the past." His expression shifted, darkening a little as he lowered his voice. "And, um, she's actually not my girlfriend anymore."

"You guys broke up?" I asked, surprised.

Ethan shook his head, a goofy grin on his face, and I felt a blush rise in my cheeks as I realized what this meant. "No, I actually, uh, proposed. That's why I wanted to plan this triple date! I wanted you guys to all meet her a little more formally before we got started on all the wedding preparations. I was actually going to tell you this at dinner, but… sorry, I'm a little excited!"

I squealed, hugging Ethan so tightly that he groaned in pain. "No way! Oh, Ethan, I'm so happy for you!" I exclaimed, pulling away and jumping up and down. "Wow, Ethan! It still feels like we're little kids… I can't believe you're engaged. Geez, what a weird feeling… You're making me feel really old, Ethan." I smacked his arm playfully, smiling at him. "A triple date sounds great, then. I'll call Blue and see if he can come up. What time?"

"Around seven? I made reservations at this nice place called the Corsola Coral Bar in downtown Goldenrod for seven-fifteen, so if he takes the train in, he can just meet us at the train station and we can walk over to the restaurant." Ethan sighed, tugging his hat further down over his forehead. "This is going to be awesome. Mattie really wants to meet you. And, honestly, I'm really curious about Silver's girlfriend… and Blue. Silver's told me interesting things about him."

I frowned, crossing my arms in annoyance. "You've met Blue. Form your own opinions. Silver's a little… anti-Blue. Whatever he's been telling you about Blue had been wrong. Sure," I muttered, waving a hand around, "he hasn't been around in awhile. But things are going really well. Blue's a really good guy. So, just ignore everything that Silver has told you."

"You guys still holding that bet?" Ethan asked, and I gasped.

"How'd you know about that?"

Ethan rolled his eyes, walking around our counter and opening the refrigerator to grab a water bottle. "Silver told me. You know, that's wrong, Lyra. I had to admit, I was really surprised that you agreed to it. Because it kind of makes me think that the only reason you're dating Blue is so you can win. So you can _prove_ that Silver is wrong." He opened the water bottle, chugging about half of it before continuing. "There are better ways to prove him wrong. What would you do if Blue found out? Because if he did, I doubt he'd be too thrilled about it."

"He's not going to find out," I said stubbornly, knocking on the wooden edge of the countertop. "And I know it's wrong… I do. But I'm not in a relationship with Blue just because of this. I _do_ like him. And… I think I _am_ falling in love with him… even if he isn't around half the time." I smiled, rubbing the wooden edge dazedly. It felt so crazy admitting that. "Yeah! Yeah, I think I am! So… so what if I have this competition going with Silver? It doesn't mean a thing to me compared to what Blue means."

Ethan nodded, grinning at me. "That's what I want to hear! Now… we have to see if Silver can say the same… I'm not really so hopeful."

"Me, neither, actually." I sighed, pulling my PokéGear out of my pocket. "I should probably call Blue now."

"Okay."

I walked out of our little kitchen, scrolling down my list of contacts until I found Blue's name. After all of the trouble we'd been having trying to get a date set up, I really hoped he could at least make it to Goldenrod, even if it was only for a few hours. Surely Professor Oak would understand if Blue took one night off for me.

"Hi, Blue, it's Lyra!" I greeted when I heard Blue answer, smiling as I sat down on the couch in the living room.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good, I guess. I actually have a proposition for you: how would you like to go on a triple date tonight? It'd be us, Ethan and his girlfr—oh, fiancée, actually—and Silver and his girlfriend. We're going out to celebrate Ethan's engagement, and his fiancée wants to meet all of us," I suggested, twirling my hair around my fingers as I spoke.

"Ethan got engaged? Wow! Good for him," Blue responded, sounding particularly impressed.

I laughed, looking over at Ethan as his chugged the rest of his water. "I know. I'm so happy for him. So, yeah, what do you say? You want to come? If you can get over to Goldenrod by seven, we'll meet you at the train station. We're going to the Corsola Coral Bar."

There was a pause, and then a long sigh told me with answer without words. "I'm sorry, Lyra. Gramps has me working again tonight until eight. I can try to fly down there for eight-thirty if you guys are still at the restaurant… I mean… I'm sorry, Lyra. I'm really sorry. I don't know why Gramps keeps sending me out at night."

"Oh, okay," I resigned, actually stung by this. "Well, that's all right. Don't even worry about coming down, okay? I don't want you rushing and getting your Pokémon hurt or anything. I'll just see you another time."

"Lyra, I'm—"

I hung up my PokéGear without waiting to hear the rest of Blue's apology. It hurt. It really did. A month and a half was a long time to go without seeing your boyfriend, and I was so sick of just listening to his voice. I wanted to see him, to touch him, and this was too long to wait. And it hurt that I was falling in love with a man who wasn't there to catch me.

"No luck?" Ethan asked, and I sighed, nearly forgetting that he was still in the kitchen. I wiped my eyes as tears started to fall from my cheeks, and I nodded.

"Um, yeah. He has to work."

"Sorry," Ethan said, and he sounded like he really meant it. He walked over from the kitchen, sitting down beside me on the couch. "Long-distance relationships are hard. Blue just has a lot going on right now, I guess. Don't think too much of it, okay?" He tried to smile reassuringly at me, but I just rolled my eyes. "Hey, I'll keep the reservation at six people in case he decides to come, okay? Won't hurt, right?"

I didn't bother to tell Ethan that he was keeping his hopes a little too high. I knew Blue; he said he wouldn't come, so he wouldn't. If Blue said something, more often than not, he followed through with whatever he said. Sometimes, that wasn't always a good thing. But I didn't want to be angry at him for it.

So, I got dressed up, putting on my cutest little black dress and curling my hair just so, the little ringlets bobbing as I walked. The black stilettos that I had in my closet finally had purpose, and I slid them on, wobbling dangerously as I stood. My makeup was perfect, giving a different light to my eyes and a flush to my cheeks.

"Oh my gosh, you look _so_ cute!"

I jumped when I heard the surprisingly female voice come from the living room. In an apartment full of guys, it wasn't often that I heard a girl's voice, and although I was expecting company, it still surprised me. But I smiled at the girl, trying to hide my shock at seeing and hearing her as I stepped closer to her.

_She_ was the cute one. A petite girl, she had bright red hair in a little bob—more orange than Silver's dark red—and even brighter blue eyes. Her green dress went to her knees, a little longer than mine, and it cut low enough into her chest to reveal a little cleavage for her boy. I was sure she was around my age, but her voice made her seem a little younger.

"Oh, thank you. You look really lovely," I replied to the girl, holding my clutch in one hand and reaching my other hand out to her. "I'm Lyra. It's so nice to meet you…"

"Mattie. It's a pleasure." She grabbed my hand firmly, shaking it like a businesswoman. "I'm so sorry that we haven't met before, Lyra. It's been unfortunate that every time I've stopped by you've been working," she apologized, and I furrowed my eyebrows. The situation sounded eerily like mine and Blue's, and it made me feel a little guilty. "But Ethan told me that you recently lost your job? It sounds like the strangest situation to me. You've had a hard time finding another one?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I've been searching for awhile, but no one has called me back yet. I unfortunately don't have much experience other than doing research with Professor Oak. But, you know, it's been okay. My boyfriend is working tonight, and he works with Professor Oak, too. So, if I had still been working there, I wouldn't have been able to come, again."

Mattie smiled at me, shrugging. "Very true. It's a pity your boyfriend can't come tonight."

"Yeah, I—"

"Hi, Mattie." Ethan jumped into our little two-person circle—literally jumped—and gave Mattie a quick kiss. "I see you've met Lyra. You guys ready to go?"

"What about Silver?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Ethan grabbed Mattie's hand, and I noticed her step a bit closer to him. It was so cute! "He said he'll meet us at the restaurant. His girlfriend apparently lives in Goldenrod, so he didn't want to have her come out here just to go back there. Which, I have to admit, was oddly considerate of him," Ethan explained, and I laughed in agreement.

We took a car out to Goldenrod, deciding that not only would flying there on our Pokémon mess up our (a.k.a. Mattie's and my) hair, but our dresses were a little too short. We didn't want anyone to look up and get a view they weren't expecting, and, quite frankly, I didn't want to give that view in the first place.

I almost didn't believe there was actually a girlfriend. But when we all arrived at the Corsola Coral Bar, there she was, standing beside Silver in her short little red dress and black pumps. Her long black hair was partially pulled back into a ponytail, a small pouf at the front of her head. Her jewelry was very classy, small diamonds in her ears and a thin silver chain around her neck.

"Hi, Silver," Ethan greeted, his arm linked with Mattie's. "This is my fiancée, Mattie."

Silver, apparently already having been told the news, didn't really react. He had already had the pleasure of meeting Mattie, but his girlfriend, on the other hand, looked astounded by this piece of news.

"Wow! Oh, wow! Fiancée! It's so nice to meet you!" the girlfriend said, holding out her hand. "I'm Lynda." She dropped Mattie's hand, turning to Ethan and shaking his hand. "You must be Ethan, then. And…" She turned to me, holding out her hand, but her expression made it look like an obligation. Whatever Silver had told her about me, she didn't like it. "Lyra, right?"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you." As soon as our hands touched, Lynda nearly dropped mine like it was on fire.

Ethan seemed to notice the strange reaction, and he cleared his throat to break the silence that had started. "Right. It's really nice to finally meet you, Lyndy—"

"—Lynda—"

"—Lynda. Do you guys want to go in?" Ethan finished, and I nodded.

We all walked into the restaurant together, the women looking dazzling and the men looking spiffy in their suits. And when we got inside and saw the restaurant, we certainly weren't overdressed for the occasion. The restaurant was even nicer than the one Blue and I had gone to, and even the people at the bar were dressed up in their finest outfits.

We were seated immediately, brought to a large round table in the middle of the restaurant. I found myself stuck between Lynda and the empty seat meant for Blue, a larger than normal gap between me and Silver's girlfriend. I didn't exactly understand why Lynda didn't like me, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Silver was behind that.

I didn't think it would be so awkward if Lynda wasn't there. But since she clearly didn't like me, Ethan clearly directed the conversation away from anything involving me. He had so much to talk about regarding the wedding, though, that it almost felt normal. While Ethan and Mattie talked, Lynda shot me glares.

"So, we were planning to have the wedding in the fall. Ecruteak is really pretty in the autumn, and I just think it's going to be beautiful," Mattie told us. Silver looked unimpressed, but I thought it was nice that she and Ethan were getting married. My best friend… getting married! "And we were thinking of honeymooning in Sinnoh, isn't that right, Ethan?"

Ethan hummed, nodding as he took a sip from his wine. "Yeah. As for the wedding… Silver, I was hoping you'd be best man?"

"What?" Silver demanded, a small smile forming on his face—something so genuine, so surprised, that it was just so beautiful. "Wow, thanks, man! I'd love to!"

"And Lyra, I know I don't know you very well, but you _are_ Ethan's best friend. I would love for you to be one of my bridesmaids. It could be a great way to get to know each other! What do you think?" Mattie suggested, and I beamed at her. I didn't know any way I could say no to her—not that I wanted to. I loved the idea.

"Thank you, Mattie! It sounds like a great idea!"

Ethan took another sip of water, holding his finger up in what appeared to be a wave of realization. "There's actually one more thing." He sounded uncomfortable now, and I raised my eyebrows. "I'm moving out of the apartment and, um, moving in with Mattie. We already found a house, and I was… um… planning on moving out in two weeks."

Somehow, that hadn't even crossed my mind, but now that it was out there… how could I not have expected it? But somehow, it made me fidget in my seat uncomfortably, not wanting it to be true. I couldn't imagine an apartment without Ethan. I didn't even know how Silver and I could afford rent without him, but that wasn't the problem. It was like… Ethan was moving on without me. I couldn't believe I wouldn't see Ethan every day.

"Oh," I muttered, brushing my hair behind my ear, "Ethan, that's really great for you to—"

"Package for a… Miss Lyra?" a voice interrupted, one that sounded so wonderfully familiar. I turned around, a large bouquet of purple irises blocking the face of the person holding them. But I knew who it was without seeing his face, and I jumped out of my seat, nearly knocking it over—and knocking Lynda over in the process—to get to him.

Blue set the flowers down on the table as he hugged me. "Lyra, I'm so sorry, I—"

"Save it," I interrupted. I turned to the table, smiling apologetically at everyone. Silver gave me a disapproving look, but at least it didn't seem as harsh as the one Lynda was giving me. "Um, we'll be right back. Can we talk about this when we get back, Ethan? Just… don't spill anymore details while I'm gone, okay? We'll be just a second."

I grabbed Blue's arm, pulling him away from the table and out to the front of the restaurant. As we walked down the steps, Blue grabbed my hand, swinging it gently. I stopped beside the steps, leaning against the edge of the building, the windows thankfully too high now for the two of us to put on a show for the guests. And as Blue leaned down to kiss me, I stretched my neck to meet him halfway.

But I put my hands on his chest, pushing him away and relaxing back against the wall. "Wait. You said you weren't coming."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that, I just—"

"I don't _want_ excuses, Blue. I want reliability! I want a boyfriend who will actually come out with me on occasions like this. I want a boyfriend who I actually get to see more than once a month. I want a boyfriend who finds a way to work me into his life along with his job because I kind of feel like a third wheel in this relationship. And I don't think it's too much to want all this—"

"It's not, Lyra, and that's why—"

"—because I want you to be in my life more often. I know I don't have a job right now, and I feel like I'm just sitting around sometimes. But all you do is work, Blue." I sighed, throwing my hands up in the air. "Maybe I was like that when I worked with your grandfather, too, and maybe I didn't realize it. But I missed so much. Ethan's engaged—and this is the first time I've met his fiancée. Because I had been too busy with work to have time to meet her. And I don't want to miss things anymore."

"I don't want to, either—"

"I'm not asking you to quit your job, Blue. I'm not. I just… I don't know what I'm asking," I admitted, and Blue smiled at me. "I just want to see you."

He nodded, sighing as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Do you mind if I try to squeeze a word in there?" he asked jokingly, and I gasped, covering my mouth. I had been cutting him off, hadn't I? I pulled my fingers across my lips like a zipper, throwing the imaginary key over my shoulder to let him know that he was free to talk without anymore interruptions.

"Thanks. I'm tired of not being able to see you. Ever since Gramps fired you, the amount of work I've had to do has practically tripled. I didn't realize how much you were doing." Blue laughed, and I smiled weakly. "I've been putting in over twelve hours a day every day… I'm actually exhausted right now. Bothers the hell out of me."

"Blue, you should be sleeping, then!" I said, before covering my mouth again. "Sorry. No more interruptions."

"Well, I wanted to come see you. That's more important to me than sleeping. And I don't think I'll have to worry too much about being exhausted anymore…" He looked a little embarrassed at this admittance, and I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to figure out what he meant by that. Why wouldn't he have to worry about it?

Then, it clicked in my head, and I gaped at him for a moment. "Oh, Blue, you didn't…"

He nodded, appearing a tad guilty. "Yeah. I did. I quit," he said matter-of-factly, and I shook my head in disbelief.

"You quit on your own grandfather…"

"Hey, he was asking for it! He was driving me up a wall, and I was so sick of putting in all those extra hours. Plus, without you there, it's been kind of boring. Not to mention I haven't had any time to visit you. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I _didn't_ quit my job?" He grinned at me, and I felt a pang of guilt.

"What kind of girlfriend would I be if you felt you needed to quit your job to see me?" I asked, and Blue frowned. "You have a job. I should have been the one to go over to Kanto to see you. It was unfair of me to ask you to come over here when I have so much free time… geez, I am _such_ an idiot. Blue, go get your job back."

Blue looked surprised, reaching out and grabbing my hands. "You've been trying to find a job, and from that one day looking with you, I know how tiring it can be. Besides, it wouldn't have really mattered if you came over to Kanto or I came to Johto. I was working either way. I wouldn't be a good host if I just left you alone while I worked."

"Well, I suppose that's true. But still… you need to go get your job back."

Blue just smiled, letting go of one of my hands and tapping my nose. "Nah. I think I'm good. Besides, it's not like I can't get my job back if I decide later that I want in again. He's my grandfather. And, honestly, Gramps is getting a tad old. He probably wouldn't remember me quitting if I wandered in tomorrow. Not that I'm going to…"

"You should."

"Lyra." Blue put a finger to my chin, tilting my head up to force me to look at him. "Don't worry about it. Now I get to spend more time with you."

"Yeah," I muttered. "Looking for jobs for both of us."

Blue kissed my nose, and I rolled my eyes. "Exactly!"

"You're obnoxious. And stupid. Really stupid." I walked away from him, heading back towards the steps. "They're probably wondering if we ditched them by now. We should probably reassure them that I wouldn't go anywhere without those lovely flowers you got me. Which, considering you're a man with no job, was very nice of you. Thank you."

I smiled at him, prancing up the steps and nearly falling in my heels. Blue climbed quickly up the steps to grab my arm. "You're welcome."

"Now… shall we?" I gestured towards the door, and Blue reached out to grab it for me.

"Ladies first."

I rolled my eyes, stepping back into the restaurant and heading back over to the table. It was kind of nice to see Ethan and Mattie beam at us, and I was so glad that Mattie was so receptive to Blue's late arrival. It was even nicer that I now I had someone I could actually talk to sitting beside me since I was still getting the evil eye from Lynda. I didn't know what I had done, but something told me that Lynda wasn't going to be my best friend forever anytime soon.

And when dinner finally ended, she couldn't take off faster if she tried.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Why in the world is this chapter so long? Honestly, I have no idea. I suppose I could have split it into two chapters, but I kind of thought it worked better as a single chapter. And it's always nice to have long chapters. Makes room for more mistakes, though. XD

A TON happened in this chapter. Like… a lot. Ethan knows about the bet, Ethan's getting married, Ethan's moving out, Silver's girlfriend Lynda hates Lyra for some reason (and, more importantly, she actually exists), Blue quit his job… Is that all? Did I forget anything? Still, that's a lot to happen in one chapter. Most of it involves Ethan, LOL. Who hasn't played a major role in this fanfic thus far. But there is significance to his being around.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this extra-long update! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

"Ouch! Can someone grab this for me before I drop it?" I called, trying to squeeze my way through the door. It was moving day for Ethan, and we were all trying to pitch in and help pack all of his stuff into the truck he had rented. Somehow the boys had all left me with the largest box, and carrying it wasn't really working out.

A pair of hands took the box from me just as it slipped through my fingers, and I sighed in relief. Silver nodded at me as he turned around, heading back down the stairs of the apartment complex to pack the box. I had to admit, I was surprised that he had taken the box from me. It was almost too nice of him.

I turned back around to go grab another box, looking at Lynda sitting on the couch. Right. I had almost forgotten she was here. It wasn't like she was helping out or anything. She was just sitting there on the couch, her legs lifted up on our coffee table—which I would now have to clean—and her arms crossed as she just watched us all walk by with boxes.

Even Blue was here helping Ethan move out. He could be anywhere but here—like out trying to find a job—but he still made the effort to help. Lynda, on the other hand, could be anywhere but here, but she just sat around and watched us work our asses off. Which, quite frankly, I didn't really appreciate.

In the two weeks that I had known Lynda, I had deduced quite a few things about her: first, she was a pretentious bitch; second, she seemed to hate me for no reason in particular; third, she didn't like speaking to me and avoided confrontation whenever possible; and lastly, she actually seemed to have quite a bit of skill with Pokémon.

The first thing was easy to figure out; Lynda was about as ostentatious as they came, sticking her nose high in the air whenever she walked into a room and carrying an aura of pure self-adoration. As far as narcissists were concerned, I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting many—Lynda, though, probably loved herself far more than she loved Silver. And it kind of broke my heart a little to see him with her.

It didn't take much to see that Lynda hated me, either. From that triple date, I knew she had something against me considering all of the glares I kept receiving. And every time she had been over here with Silver since, she never stopped giving me those looks. It didn't even seem like she _knew_ she was doing it; she hated me _that much_.

Of course, she never told me that she hated me. I had assumed it. In fact, she never spoke to me at all. Since meeting her, I had never had a conversation with her, and she always got eerily quiet whenever I was in the same room with her, as if she had to bite her tongue to physically keep herself from saying anything. It was impressive that in two weeks, the girl hadn't let anything slip. It wouldn't be long now.

The last thing was harder to figure out, and I had only discovered this through eavesdropping. Apparently, she was a Trainer at Whitney's Gym in Goldenrod, and when she was younger, she had been considered a Pokémon-training prodigy. But she had never actually gone on a Gym challenge. She chose to stay and train at Whitney's Gym instead, apparently hoping to take it over in the future.

That was always the worst. Bitchy girls who were actually good at something…

I had to ignore her. As annoying and mean as she was—without even saying anything—I couldn't be mean back to her. Silver and I had called a truce, and whether he intended to keep it or not, I did. If he loved her, then that was fine with me. If he wanted to marry her later on, that was fine with me, too. I just hoped it didn't have to come to that.

So, I continued moving, heading back to Ethan's room to grab the last of his stuff. But when I reached his room, I found it empty—Ethan's Azumarrill was carrying the last small box, looking particularly proud of itself for holding such a large thing. And there Ethan was, sitting on the edge of his bed, the mattress and bed frame only things left of it.

"Oh, Ethan," I whimpered, walking towards him and sitting down on the mattress beside him. He kept his head down, and I wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I can't believe you're really moving out… and getting married. It kind of feels like yesterday we got this apartment, you know? And it's not going to be the same without you."

Ethan sniffled, finally looking up at me. His eyes were a little red, and I leaned my head against his shoulders. "Yeah. I'm sorry that I have to leave you with Silver."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I picked my head up, and Ethan and I turned a little on the mattress to look back at Silver. He was frowning, but the tone of his voice insisted that he was only joking. Instead of walking around the bed like a civilized human being, he bounced across the mattress to the other side of Ethan, sitting down beside him. And there we were: the trio, together for one last time.

"I never really thought this day would come… the day when one of us left," Silver admitted solemnly, and I sighed in agreement. "It was a little immature of us to think that, wasn't it? I mean, we had to know that this wouldn't be the arrangement forever. But I know I thought that. And now I don't want to believe that one of us is leaving."

"I can come back and visit," Ethan suggested, his voice optimistic. "We can have reunions here, and I can just—oh, I don't know. I guess things won't really ever be the same. I'll be a guest here, not a resident, and I can't stay nights or anything. But it's not like I can stay here forever, you guys. You know that."

There was silence for a moment, time for all of his words to sink in. He was right: things would never be the same again. Now that our little family had lost one member, it wasn't long before we lost another or had to downgrade. Because, quite frankly, I wasn't sure that Silver and I could pay rent between the two of us. Blue had even suggested that we get an apartment together somewhere else.

And I was considering it. I just couldn't tell Silver yet.

Ethan stood up, turning around to face Silver and me. With a tiny smile, he held out his arms, and I jumped to my feet, throwing my arms around him. Silver hugged him next, slapping Ethan's back like an old pal, and Ethan pulled me back into the circle for one last group hug. It didn't take long for the tears to start flowing from my eyes.

"I promise I'll take good care of him," a fourth voice interjected, and I gave a thankful smile to Mattie. She leaned her head against the doorframe, wiping one of her eyes. "We'll be in touch as soon as we get all moved in, and you guys can come up to the house to see it, okay? And we'll be getting started on the wedding plans really soon, so we'll keep you in the loop about that, too. And you guys can call whenever you want. I won't hog him; he's your best friend, too."

I laughed, pulling myself away from Ethan to go hug Mattie. "Thank you, Mattie."

"And you, too, Lyra."

She smiled one last time at me, grabbing Ethan's hand as he walked towards us. Silver and I followed them out of the apartment, watching as they drove away in their rented truck, standing outside for what seemed like forever watching them leave. Lynda, Blue, and Silver, after a minute or two, started back inside, but I wanted to stay outside awhile longer. Catching my breath was a little harder than I thought it would be.

A few minutes passed, and I sat down on the curb, holding my knees against my chest and staring out at the road. I knew staring wouldn't bring Ethan back, and it wouldn't clear my mind, but I couldn't go back inside now that it was just me and Silver. Sure, Blue and Lynda were there now, but it was still different. They didn't _live_ there.

I jumped when someone sat down beside me, thinking that everyone had gone back into the apartment. The redhead chuckled a little to himself, not apologizing for scaring me, but neither of us spoke a word. There were so many unsaid things between us now, things that we wanted to say but couldn't. But one of us had to be first.

"I might move, too," I said, and Silver's head snapped over to look at me. I couldn't meet his gaze, and I continued to stare at the road. "I don't know when, but since Blue wants to move to Johto, I might get an apartment with him. So… I'm sorry to leave you all by yourself, but maybe Lynda will let you move in with her."

"What?" Silver was, as I could see through my peripheral vision, still staring incredulously at me, and I felt a pang of guilt. "But what's wrong with this arrangement? I mean, how often was Ethan really in the apartment, anyway? He was usually with Mattie during the day, sometimes at night, but you and I… we're always here. Nothing's changing."

"_Everything_ is changing, Silver." I finally looked at him, and he seemed taken aback, his eyes wide as he stared at me. "Ethan was the glue that held us together. We will _never_ survive living together without him. Who was the person we always talked to whenever we were fighting? Ethan. Who was the person who always solved our problems? Ethan. And a phone call and a _visit_ isn't going to fix any of this. It's not going to work."

Silver didn't say anything for a moment, and it seemed as if he really had nothing to say at all. Because I was completely right. Ethan had always fixed everything. If I complained about Silver having too much raunchy sex late at night, Ethan usually soothed my anger and told off Silver. If Silver complained about my being a prude, then Ethan usually soothed Silver's anger and agreed with him.

"But you've only been dating Blue for three months. You can't move in with him! Isn't that moving a little quickly? What will you do if it doesn't work out between you?" Silver pointed out, and I narrowed my eyes at him. I really didn't want to start a fight ten minutes after Ethan left, but this was a little ridiculous. How hypocritical could one person be?

"Coming from the man who had sex with his girlfriend the first night!" I retorted, and Silver rolled his eyes. "You have no reason to say that I'm moving too quickly when my boyfriend when you don't even know how to zip up your pants! And if it doesn't work out, then… I'll find other arrangements. But don't you dare tell me how to run my relationship when you don't know how to run your own."

"What? I _do_—"

I held up a hand, and Silver stopped, crossing his arms furiously. "You _don't_. You were the one who argued that relationships don't exist anymore, and you're the reason why. Because sleeping with your girlfriend every night doesn't mean that you love each other. It just means that you think she's good in bed."

"I _love_ Lyra!" Silver shouted, but as soon as the words escaped his lips, the two of us froze, a dark silence lingering over the two of us for far too long. He looked completely horrified at himself, a rosy blush forming on his cheeks. I stared at him, gaping at him in pure shock at what he just said, wondering if I had just heard him correctly.

Had he just said what I thought he just said?

"Lynda, I mean. I meant _Lynda_…" Silver muttered in attempt to correct himself. "Not you. I seriously meant Lynda…"

I brought a hand to my mouth, covering it to keep me from continuing to gape. Silver continued to try to convince me that he had meant Lynda, and I really wanted to believe him. Because there was no way that he had really meant me. Our names were so similar, after all, and it was entirely possible that it had just been a slip.

Right. That was exactly what it was: just a slip.

"That's why she hates me," I said, and Silver raised his eyebrows. "Our names… you must keep messing up our names or something… keep calling her Lyra instead of Lynda. And the more you keep messing it up, the more she hates me for it. Because you don't know your own girlfriend's name… even though you say you love her."

"I know her name," Silver insisted, and I chuckled dryly, rising to my feet. "Lyra, come on, I know her name, and I know your name. I've just been around you for so long… known you for so long. I've only known her for a few months, and I just—mess it up sometimes, I guess. It's just an accident… a bad habit."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "And whose name do you call out when you're making love to her, Silver?"

All right, I could admit that was low for me. It clearly hit Silver below the belt, and he jumped to his feet, grabbing my wrist as I tried to make an escape. He tugged me back, spinning me around to face him, and I stared at him, trying not to look guilty for what I had said. But he didn't say anything to me. He just held onto my wrist, too tightly, staring at me with narrowed eyes for what seemed like eternity.

"Silver, ouch…"

"Fine, move if you want to!" he yelled, dropping my wrist like it was something disgusting to touch, and I cradled it in my other hand. He appeared so sickened by the sight of me now, and I felt my heart sink. "I don't care! Throw your life away and be with the guy who doesn't even love you! I'm happy with _Lynda_. How happy are you with Blue?"

I bit my lip in frustration, curling my hands into fists. "Happier than you'll ever be," I hissed, stomping my foot and running back into the apartment complex.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yeah, just a slip, Silver? Just a slip, Lyra? You guys REALLY want to think that? All right, go ahead, guys. No, I won't argue with you. If you both want to think that, then you can go right ahead and think it. It's not like I have control over your thoughts—oh, wait, I actually do, don't I? ;)

Not such a long chapter—but I kind of liked the length of the last one. Oh well. I didn't want this to drag on forever, and there really wasn't as much to say. But I kind of liked the emotions portrayed through this chapter. It almost makes you feel bad for Silver, doesn't it? Bwah ha ha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Plans weren't settled for when I was going to move out of the apartment, and Silver and I had done a good job at avoiding the topic. In fact, we had done a good job of ignoring each other completely. Since his little slip, he had been avoiding my like the plague, always finding some excuse to leave a room whenever I entered. And, admittedly, I did the same, escaping to the safety of my room or Blue's arms whenever possible.

Things had gotten so awkward between Silver and I now that moving didn't seem all that scary to me anymore. Because, honestly, it _had_ been scary to consider. Moving out of the apartment I had been living in for years to move and moving in with my boyfriend of four months (three at the time Blue suggested it) seemed hasty. But where else was I supposed to go?

And our apartment was too nice for me to afford the rent anymore—not when it was split between two people instead of three. Once my money from Professor Oak ran out, what would I do then? I had gotten a call for an interview for a part-time job, but that wouldn't be enough to pay it. Besides, I wanted to save that money as long as possible, not spend it even faster by paying more rent.

Moving out was my only option. And as much as it killed me to realize that—yeah—I had to finally move on from the friendship and psychological location that I had been clinging to so desperately, it was true. Ethan was gone, getting married in a few months, and I couldn't hold onto the idea that this apartment was where all of us belonged anymore. None of us belonged there now. Not now that the trio was broken up.

But buying a place to live with Blue was far more difficult than I expected, though it hadn't seemed like that would be the case in the first place. We decided that, while looking for jobs together, we could look for apartments, too. And now that it was official that I was leaving my apartment, we could look _anywhere_ for jobs. We could move to Kanto, anywhere in Johto, Hoenn… anywhere—or, more appropriately, wherever we could get jobs.

There was always the option of moving in with Daisy—that was, after all, where Blue had been living while he was in Kanto. But Blue said this was the last resort; as much as he loved his sister, he said he had spent too much time with her over the years. He needed independence from her, and, he said, needed to be with me.

Which was sweet, I told him. But I didn't say anything about my insecurities.

Because they were there. What if Blue and I didn't work out? We had, after all, only been dating for a little over four months now. And while it did help that Blue had been around more and actually took me on dates, it was... quick. Silver was, much to my chagrin, correct. There was such a great possibility of this not working out, and it frightened me. Where would I go then?

I tried not to think of it. As we flew to different towns together, looking for jobs and holding hands as we walked around the cities, I tried to ignore it as much as possible. What kind of girlfriend was I if I was having these feelings? It made me feel like I had no faith in our relationship, which was wrong—I _did_ have faith. I did think that this could work. And knowing that I believed that just made me feel like I had to hide those feelings even more.

I had to hide them. I loved Blue.

Not that I had exactly said that to his face yet. It was true, though. I was completely in love with Blue. After everything, after all those years of being so annoyed by his snotty, smug attitude, I had fallen in love with him. But I didn't know if he felt the same way—he hadn't said it to me, and I was too afraid to say it and be laughed at.

I had, in fact, only been in love one other time in my life, but my mom used to tell me that I was too young then to be in love. With Silver, especially. But, in a way, being in love now felt exactly the same as it did back then—so, I _had_ been in love. Sixteen or not, I knew what it felt like. And I never wanted to face the feeling of heartbreak again. Until Blue told me that he loved me first, I couldn't say it to him.

But as I held hands with Blue now, walking down the streets of Violet City, it was so hard keeping all of these feelings inside of me. I almost felt bloated, like I would blow up any second if Blue spoke and release everything within me. Yet I was too much of a coward, and the possibility of that happening made me queasy.

"Lyra, your hands are kind of clammy," Blue pointed out, and while he spoke with a jokingly mean tone, I knew he was serious—and concerned.

"Oh, yeah…" I smiled weakly at him, trying to prove that I was okay. "I know. I think I'm just anxious to find something, you know? This is a really nice city, and there are a lot of job opportunities here. I'm just excited to fill out some applications and hand out some résumés. You know… get my name out there."

Blue squeezed my apparently-clammy hand, and I glanced up at his brown eyes. "Well, I don't think you'll have the problem of getting your name out there. Pretty much the whole world knows your name, Champion Lyra." He laughed, but I just frowned at this. If everyone knew my name, then why was no one hiring me? "You know, Gramps must have pulled some pretty intense strings to make it so no one would hire you. Me—now, that I can understand. I'm the pathetic excuse for a Champion. But… you're a hero in Johto and Kanto."

"Not really," I muttered, and Blue bumped me with his arm. "Well, I'm not. Clearly."

Blue frowned, and I averted my gaze, looking at several of the buildings surrounding us instead. But as he spoke again, I stared at him again. "Hey, it's not your fault. I just… I mean, I guess it might be your résumé…"

I pulled my hand away from his, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and putting my hands on my hips. "What do you mean by that?"

He appeared slightly uncomfortable by my question, looking anywhere and everywhere except my face. "Well, you know… you're applying for some jobs that require an impressive résumé—and you're applying for some that don't. Look at the ones who are calling you back: the part-time jobs that usually go to teenagers. Other well-known firms won't hire you because your résumé isn't exactly… well, it's not bad, but…" He rubbed the back of his head, sighing as I raised my eyebrows at him.

Then, I let my hands drop from my hips, allowing my head to hang. "Damn it," I swore, shuffling my feet angrily against the ground. "It's not my fault! I didn't go to college, and I've never worked any other jobs. How do they expect you to get experience if you need experience to get experience? That just doesn't even make sense!"

Blue patted my shoulder. "I know…"

"Pokémon is the only thing I've ever been good at, Blue. Everything else doesn't even matter to me. Working for your grandfather was the only thing I've ever wanted to do with my life, and he took it away from me, Blue. He took it away. And he took every other chance I have at doing what I love away, too."

"Hey, I know what he did was wrong. I understand how you're feeling. Really, Lyra, I do. But I'm actually starting to see why he did it," Blue said, and I narrowed my eyes. There would never be any way I could understand it. Never. "I know you want to do what you love. You just need all that experience to earn it. You need something special to separate yourself from everyone else."

I crossed my arms, pulling my shoulder away from Blue's grip. "I have the experience and the special something. I was the Champion."

"Well, me, too."

This made me look at him again. He had a point. But how could they expect me to be something special when I couldn't do anything else? Blue had worked for Professor Oak and he had been a Gym Leader after being Champion… what had I done besides work for Professor Oak? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Stupid résumés…"

"Sorry, Lyra, but—hey!" Blue jumped, walking around me and pointing off in the distance so suddenly that I barely had time to react. "Look at that! A house for sale!" he exclaimed, and I turned around to face a little house behind some fencing down one of the little roads that broke off from the main road. "That's a nice house, don't you think, Lyra?"

I hummed in agreement, walking down the little path towards the house. Sure enough, there was a little sign in the front yard telling that, yes, it was indeed _For Sale._

I clutched the bars of the wrought iron fence, leaning my face against it to get a better look. The house, framed with wood and painted a light gray, appeared to be fairly old, but it was cute nonetheless. Its purple roof tiles looked newly replaced, and the condition of the house seemed pretty good.

"What about a house, Lyra? Why go for an apartment if we could live here?" Blue asked, and I furrowed my eyebrows. Well, a house would definitely be nice. But I could barely afford rent in my _apartment_ right now—a house was way more expensive. The upkeep, the taxes, the bills… I could never afford all of that.

As much as I wanted it… I couldn't.

"Sorry, Blue. I don't think we can really swing a house… I mean, yeah, it's really nice and all. I just don't think it's realistic that we buy a house when neither of us have jobs," I pointed out, letting go of the fence and turning to face Blue. There was something different about his expression now, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"I have savings, and you have all that money from Gramps." He sounded excited, hungry even, and I frowned at him. He didn't know what he was getting into here. He couldn't know. Houses were different, completely different. "We can just put that forward as the down payment and then pay the mortgage—"

I grabbed his hand, trying to tug him back down the little road. "We can't afford it, Blue. I'm not going to force you to go into your savings account, and I want to save the money I got. We just can't afford to buy a house right now. Maybe when we both get jobs and get settled, we can talk again, but until then… let's just go look at some apartments."

"We can buy the house and get jobs here, Lyra. We should take up on the opportunities before they're all gone."

I dropped his hand, putting my hands back on my hips. "In case you haven't noticed, Blue, we haven't had very good luck getting jobs. We don't want to get ourselves into something that we'll just have to back out on later—and lose a lot of money on. I'm sorry, Blue, but I don't want to buy this house. Not now."

"Can't we just go up to the house and ask about the price? Maybe it's cheaper than—"

"Blue… I know you like it, but… seriously… Do you really think that's smart?" I asked, and Blue narrowed his eyes at me. This was going in a bad direction, and I didn't quite know how to turn it around. "I don't want to fight with you. I really don't. I'm just saying that we need to be smart about money. Because, unfortunately, this won't actually work between us without it."

Blue now looked taken aback. "What?"

"Wait, don't take it like that!" I said quickly, realizing what it sounded like I said. Whoops. "I just… I… Blue…"

"Listen, we can talk, you know," Blue said, and my heart nearly stopped. This was a mistake. I was digging my own grave, backing myself into a corner and pushing myself over a cliff. Because I knew what I was about to do. I was about to let everything I had been holding in out, give away all of my secrets.

"Did you just hear what you said? You said, 'Listen… we can talk'. That contradicts itself, right? I've been listening, Blue, and I want to talk. I'm just kind of afraid of what you'll say." I paused, trying to start myself over. To get this back to where it started. "Unfortunately, life kind of does revolve around money, but it's more than that, too. Life revolves others. And I don't want to buy a house with you."

Blue didn't say anything. He just pursed his lips and stared at me with an uncomfortably vacant expression that I couldn't entirely understand.

Finally, he asked, "Why?"

And it was about the worst question he could ask.

I sighed, gathering all my courage, but I knew—I _knew_—it shouldn't have been like this. I shouldn't have been afraid to speak to my boyfriend. What did that even mean? Yet… it wasn't him I was afraid of. It was his response—the "what if", the possibility of what could happen when I spoke. Because I didn't want him to leave me.

Not like Silver.

"I'm… scared," I muttered, and Blue leaned closer to me. "I said that I'm scared. I'm afraid of moving in with you because I'm afraid of breaking up with you. Because something is going to go wrong. It's just seemed so perfect so far, and as soon as we move in together, it's just going to fall apart. And buying a house—do you know what that even means? Do you know what moving into a _house_ together represents? I can't…"

"Lyra, why didn't you tell me? We're not going to break up…" Blue said, his voice shaking nervously. He was just as scared as I was. He was just as petrified of losing me as I was of losing him. And as he grabbed my hands, his were just as clammy as mine. "I love you, Lyra. I'm not going to let this go wrong. And if you're scared, tell me. We can make it right. We can face it together. I want us to be together."

I felt my breath escape me, as if I was punched in the stomach, but it was the most wonderful feeling in the world; Blue loved me. He admitted it.

"I love you, too, Blue."

I smiled at him, and he squeezed my hands, leaning his forehead against mine before kissing me on the nose. His lips traveled down to my own, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling like this kiss _meant_ something—like it was love itself, alive and thriving. I didn't have so much to be afraid about, after all.

"Can we go home? I think we should talk," I suggested as we broke apart. Blue nodded, keeping hold of one of my hands and holding onto it until we took to the sky.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Silver, the bet's off."

I didn't introduce myself, but I knew it was Silver from the second he answered the phone. I didn't want to waste time with that when I had more important things to discuss. And I knew Silver wouldn't be very happy with me, but I couldn't handle this anymore. I just didn't want this to happen.

"What? Why?"

"I can't do it anymore. It's wrong now," I said, speaking desperately into my PokéGear as if my life were on the line here. And maybe it was my life in a weird sort of way. Indirectly, this bet could make or break me. I didn't want that anymore. "Just… please. If you really want to, I will let you win. I just can't do it."

"Did you _sleep_ with him?"

"Silver."

"Holy shit, Lyra."

"Silver, come on—"

"The bet's still on. I want to win this thing fair and square now that you've evened up the score," he snapped, and then the phone clicked as he hung up. I pulled the PokéGear away from my ear, looking down at the screen and sighing.

Well, crap.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Dun, dun, dun! I actually left the ending a little ambiguous as to whether Lyra actually did do the nasty with Blue. You'll find out in the next chapter what actually went down when Lyra and Blue went home to "talk". And that's all I'll say about that. Yeah. (BTW, something weird is going on with the way I upload this...) Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

I flopped across my bed, reaching towards my nightstand to grab my ringing PokéGear. Why anyone was calling me at ten-thirty on a Wednesday evening was beyond me, but I didn't have to think too hard to know who it was. Since Ethan had moved out, he had been checking in on Silver and I at the strangest times; this happened to be one of the most reasonable of them all.

"Hello?"

"You slept with Blue? I thought you had higher standards than that," Ethan's voice scolded, and I raised my eyebrows. He was one to talk, especially considering that he knew what sort of standards _Silver_ had. Compared to him, I was a saint. And I still was. But it was amazing that Silver had gone and told Ethan what he thought, in any case. Silver had no right to tell Ethan any of my business, whether it happened or not.

"Well, hi to you, too. And what is that supposed to mean?"

Ethan laughed on the other end, so familiar to my ears. "I'm just saying that you've always been kind of a prude. I figured you were waiting until marriage or whatever. Which, you know, is your own prerogative, but have you ever heard the saying that you should test-drive the car before you buy it? You may want to take that into consideration. Blue seems like the type of guy who is all over the ladies, though, so… I can't imagine he'd be horrific. If you want to wait, then—"

"Do you _hear_ yourself right now, Ethan? Geez," I interrupted, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. I couldn't even believe we were having this conversation. "I didn't sleep with him, Ethan. Silver just thinks I did because I asked to call off the bet. He's been stubbornly ignoring me ever since, though, so he won't let me explain."

"Had an epiphany, did you?"

Well, perhaps I did. The bet had been a terrible idea from the start, and as much as I wanted Silver to admit that he was wrong (and as much as Silver probably wanted to see me dressed like a whore at his wedding), it was more than just a competition. It affected more than just us. It affected Lynda and Blue, and it was completely unfair of us to drag them into our petty competition—because it seemed like the only reason we were with them was _for_ the competition.

And that wasn't true. At least for me.

I loved Blue. Maybe at first… maybe at first I had hoped that something would happen just so I could win the competition. And that was pathetic and disgusting of me; I could admit that. But now that I had been with Blue for so long, now that I knew him, I _wanted_ him. I wanted to be with him, and I couldn't imagine not winning this competition anymore. Because I would be the first to get engaged if this kept up.

Which was exactly why I needed to quit. Because I didn't want to turn my relationship into some sort of game—to turn my relationship, between myself and Blue, into something between myself and Silver. This had nothing to do with Silver anymore. It had nothing to do with the competition. I wanted this for _me_.

I had offered to forfeit, damn it. What more did Silver want from me if he wouldn't take an automatic win?

"I can talk to Silver, if you want me to," Ethan offered. "I can tell him all of your not-so-dirty little secrets, and… I can tell him to call off the competition. I mean, I've told him that already, and maybe he won't listen to me. But if he thinks that you really don't want this anymore, he might agree to some sort of compromise."

I sighed, trying to find some sort of reasoning in my mind that told me that Silver would listen. "He won't. There's something else he wants from this—the satisfaction of a true victory, I suppose."

"Well, I'll try. If you want this to stop, then it's time to stop. Silver understands when he makes mistakes; he's just not too good at fixing them and admitting that he's wrong. But I'm sure if Lynda found out about this little competition, she wouldn't be too happy about it. And he'd admit he was wrong then," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

I laughed, furrowing my eyebrows. "You're going to blackmail him?"

"Something like that."

"You're horrible," I joked, wishing that he could see my smile instead of just listen to my voice. "But if it works, I'm not exactly going to complain. Do what you have to do because I'm all out of ideas. He won't even come near me anymore. Not that this will last long… Blue and I are still talking about finding an apartment together."

"Really?" There was a new tone in Ethan's voice, but I didn't know if it was a good one or a bad one. "Good for you, I guess. But let me tell you—moving in with your significant other is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I love Mattie to death, but if she tells me to put the toilet seat down one more time…"

"I always told you to do that, too," I pointed out.

Ethan laughed, and I could picture him sticking his tongue out at me. "That was different. I'm not really sure how, but it was." I chuckled, totally understanding what he meant, anyway. "But you've only been going out with Blue for, what, five months now? Moving in together is a lot to handle. It kind of… proves that you're meant to be—or disproves it. You sure you want to figure that out already? Especially if you haven't even slept with the guy yet."

"Well, it's not happening yet. We have time to make up our minds. And he understands that I don't want to necessarily have sex with him yet, so I'm not concerned with that piece of it," I told Ethan, feeling my cheeks blush again. Did Ethan really need to know all of this? He was my best friend and all, but—awkward!

"All right, all right. Hey, I'm gonna let you go, okay? I'll call Silver tomorrow and smooth-talk him, okay?"

"Yeah. Just don't let Mattie hear that," I joked, and Ethan laughed dryly.

"You're funny. Goodnight, Lyra."

"'Night."

* * *

Nothing happened, just as I predicted. Weeks passed, and as Blue and I neared our six-month anniversary, I was becoming more and more desperate to move in with him. And it seemed, with the summer months approaching, that moving was a definitely possibility now. I could leave my past, and Silver, behind me and step forward into my new life.

And, for once, everything seemed to be going my way.

A marketing firm in Violet City called me back after an interview and offered me a job, and without even skipping a beat, I accepted it. Even with my apparently pathetic résumé, they had been so impressed with my work ethic that they took me on. The pay wasn't nearly as good as it had been with Professor Oak, but it was substantial. I could actually afford to pay rent at my apartment with Silver and still have money left for other things, and if I had enough for _that_, a small apartment with Blue would be nothing. I still had quite a bit of money left from my firing, so a down payment would be quite possible.

Blue even picked up a new job; after our talk, we had both decided that before we got an apartment together, we needed to figure out everything financially. I didn't want to move in with him if neither of us had jobs because the money from Oak wouldn't support us forever. And since then, and since I got my job, Blue had spent even more time looking for a job around Violet City.

Professor Elm had been nice enough to take Blue as one of _his_ research assistants. And since New Bark Town was so close to Violet City, it was really convenient for him. Blue could continue to do what he loved, albeit with a different person, and he would be close by my firm.

I had to admit, I was a little jealous. If Professor Oak hadn't fired me and kept every other Pokémon professor from hiring me, this job thing wouldn't be so ridiculous. But I was glad that Blue was able to do what he wanted even if I couldn't. It was money, after all, that I needed, and it was money that I got. My job wasn't entirely horrible.

Of course, now that we were both so close to Violet City, Blue was pushing that small house on me. I didn't know what it was about the house, but Blue really loved it—and I found myself walking by it before flying home every day after work. The more he pushed it on me, the more I adored the thing. And the more I adored it, the more I tried to save my money.

Mattie wasn't making that easy on me, though. I had no idea that being a bridesmaid was so damn expensive. Dresses were ridiculously expensive, and fitting them wasn't cheap, either. Then there were all the little things—the bachelorette party plans, the gifts, everything else that I had to do—that really began to add up.

But I put on a smile. Because that was what a bridesmaid had to do. And Mattie made it hard to do anything else other than smile.

"Lyra, you are just the cutest thing I have ever seen. You're really showing me up," Mattie told me during my dress fitting. It was a short lavender dress, so simple and smooth, but even I was impressed with the way it fit me. "I'm just going to have to make sure my dress is extra fantastic, then. You're going to make that hard, though!"

I laughed. There was no way anyone as beautiful as Mattie could ever be shown up by a girl like me. And her wedding dress was so lovely that my simple bridesmaid dress would look like just a piece of cloth wrapped around me in comparison. It was tight around her body, and as it reached her hips, it flowed out in several layers. She looked just like a princess.

"What are you and Blue going to do for your six-month anniversary tonight?" Mattie asked me from the other side of the curtain as I attempted to slip out of my dress without ripping it. "Any special plans? It's a pretty big day, if you ask me. Ethan took me out to this really nice restaurant in Olivine for our six-month anniversary, and he bought me flowers and everything. Very romantic."

I finally slipped out of my dress, folding it over the door. "Um, I don't actually know if we're doing anything." Grabbing my clothes, I tugged my clothes back on. As cute as that dress was, jeans were much comfier. "We're trying to save money for this house in Violet City. Well… I mean, I haven't told him that I think we should get it yet, but I can tell that he really wants it."

"You guys are so cute," Mattie cooed, and as I stepped out of the dressing area, she smiled at me. "It's really interesting how different relationships are. Ethan and I have been together for so long, and we're just getting married now. But you and Blue… you're so serious in only six months. And you just _belong_ together."

I smiled. "Yeah. I think so, too."

The grin on Mattie's lips vanished, though, and I allowed my smile to leave, as well. "Silver, though… he's an interesting fellow," Mattie muttered, and I pursed my lips. "I don't think Lynda is the one for him. The way you and Blue look at each other is much different than the way Silver and Lynda do. I just can't see it in his eyes."

"He says he loves her…"

_Wrong_, I thought, immediately trying to shut my mind up as I thought it. _He said he loved you, not Lynda. But that was just a slip._

"Well, maybe it's just another example of different kinds of relationships." Mattie shrugged, the smile returning to her face. "I just think when he actually cares for someone, he acts a little differently around them. Different than he does with Lynda, at least. Like, when he's around you and Ethan, Silver is _such_ a different person."

"Oh…"

I didn't pay much attention to that. And maybe that was the problem. But… of course he would act differently around Ethan and me. We were his friends, not his lovers. If he treated us like he treated Lynda, I would be really concerned.

Mattie smiled, laughing quietly. "Well, what do I know? I'm just an outsider."

But… maybe she knew more than she thought.

* * *

When I got home that night, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with myself. Blue hadn't contacted me all day about what we were going to do tonight, if we were going to do anything. I would have at least liked him to show up at the apartment or something instead of leaving me in the dark. Even if we weren't going to celebrate our six-month anniversary formally, we could still celebrate a little.

And my timing couldn't have been worse.

When I opened our front door, there Silver was, sitting all by himself on the couch watching the television. This was the first time the two of us had been in the same room together for so long—as seconds passed, I was betting against myself as to when he would get up and leave. But he just sat there as I walked into our living room and hung my jacket up.

"You've got something," he said to me, and I was so surprised to hear his voice. It had been quite some time since I had heard it, and it was almost unfamiliar to me now. "Over there." He pointed towards the kitchen counter, and I saw a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "And there's a card with it, too."

"Did you read it?" I demanded, walking over to the flowers and picking them up. Carnations—my favorite. Simple _and_ cheap. Blue had really outdone himself.

"It fell open."

I picked the card up from beneath the flowers, holding it in my hands as I stared at Silver. I wasn't sure what he had been hoping to see by reading the note, but I could assure him, there was nothing in it that was any of his business or his interest. But if he was talking to me now, there had to be _something_ in there.

I unfolded the note, setting the flowers back down on the counter.

_Dear Lyra,_

_Meet me outside your workplace at 7:00pm._

_Love,_

_Blue_

Furrowing my eyebrows, I glanced over at Silver. What was so interesting in that note that Silver was acting so… weird about? All it said was for me to meet Blue outside my firm—why, I wasn't even sure. But Silver apparently knew something that I didn't. And something told me that I wasn't going to get it out of him.

"Silver," I started, figuring that I could at least attempt. "Do you know something?"

Silver shrugged. "Why don't you just go find out what he wants? It's not exactly hard to figure out. And it's not what you think I think, either."

I crossed my arms. "Huh?"

Silver looked at me, his eyes narrowed, and I frowned. There was something like hurt in his eyes, and I couldn't hold eye contact long. There was too much there for me to handle, and I didn't want to carry the burden of knowing what he was thinking. Because even though I wanted to figure him out, another part of me stopped me every time.

"Just go. I'll put those in a vase for you. The prettiest one I can find…" Silver sighed, putting his feet up on the coffee table. He wasn't moving anytime soon. "Just go to him."

And I did. Without another word, I headed back out the door to fly to Violet City.

Blue was where he had told me to go, standing there waiting for me as I arrived. I was a little early, but Blue must have known I would be. And as I got down from my Noctowl, he walked over to me and kissed me before I could even make a move. I just wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, excited that we could actually see each other for our six-month anniversary.

"So, I've been in meetings all day," Blue told me as we broke apart, and he grabbed my hand, pulling me down the sidewalk.

I raised an eyebrow, laughing as he pulled me faster down the path. "With Professor Elm? He never seemed like a business kind of guy to me."

Blue glanced over at me, smiling. "Oh, he's not. The meetings weren't with him."

We stopped in front of the path to the little house, the one that he wanted so badly, the one that we both wanted. And as we stepped up to the fence, I grabbed its iron bars, sticking my face in between two. It really was the cutest house I had ever seen, and it was in pretty good shape. With a little effort, it could be made even better.

But he couldn't have… not without me…

"Blue, what did you do?" I asked, pulling my head out from the bars to look at him.

He held up his hands, laughing at me. "I swear, I didn't buy it. But I spoke to a real estate agent today, so that's why I was in meetings all day. Apparently the elderly couple that owned this house before… well, the husband died, and the wife didn't want to run the house by herself. So, she put it on the market, and a little while after that, she passed away, too."

I made a face, looking back at the house. "Sounds cursed."

Blue chuckled, clearly amused. "You're funny. It's not cursed." He walked closer towards the fence, grasping the bars like I had earlier. "They dropped the price a little bit, and when I was talking to the real estate agent, they told me that we could easily put a down payment on the house and pay off the mortgage in around ten years. He said with our salaries, we'd be fine."

"You think?" I asked, standing next to Blue and grabbing the bars so my hand touched his. "I mean, do you really want to move into a house together? That's a lot of responsibility."

"Not so different from an apartment."

"More permanent."

Silence followed, and Blue sighed, his hands sliding down the fence until they slid right off. Maybe I shouldn't have said that—but wasn't he thinking it, too? A house meant commitment even more than an apartment did. We couldn't just move into a house together and expect nothing to change. It was way different than an apartment.

And Ethan was right. I knew he was. Things would change between us, too.

"I love you, Lyra. I think this could be a really good thing," Blue finally said, and I turned to face him. He smiled at me, that cocky smile smoothing out to a real one, and I nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," I agreed. "And a yard for our Pokémon would be nice, too."

Blue's eyes lit up, and I laughed as he bent down to kiss me. "So… we'll buy it?"

I nodded, grabbing his hands and swinging them. "Yes. We'll buy it. Happy anniversary."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm really sorry that this update was two weeks away from the previous one. A LOT has happened since my last update. I am now a published author!

If you are interested in buying my book, you can go to my deviantART account to get to the links, or you can search "Hardly Perfect" on (it's the one with the bees on the cover). It's available in book form, on the Kindle, and on the Nook.

Now, back to this fanfiction, haha. This chapter actually covers a lot of time. A little over a month, so probably around a month and a half. Which, you know, is a pretty long time for a single chapter to cover. But it was important that this chapter take up so much time.

In fact, time has been flying quite quickly in the past few chapters. But… it's all part of the plan, I assure you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

I didn't know what Ethan was talking about; living together with Blue was a piece of cake.

For awhile, anyway. Until I screwed it up.

But things had been going really nicely, and I appreciated being away from Silver and all that drama. Blue and I lived together quite comfortably, sharing the responsibilities of owning a house without conflict. And since we both worked so nearby, it was convenient for the both of us; we left at the same time in the morning, returned home at the same time, ate together, chatted a little, made out on several different occasions… it was great.

Although we hadn't done the deed yet, we still shared a bed, as well, and it wasn't awkward in the least. Blue was really supportive of my choice to wait, and while, admittedly, we almost got there quite a few times, he always stopped me before we got too far. Because, honestly, I was the one who needed to be stopped.

But I wasn't about to tell anyone else that.

I had to admit, though, I felt bad for Silver. Whenever I saw him—and it was rare, now, that I did—he seemed so sad to me. I didn't know why, and I didn't ask. But I could guess. It was, after all, my fault that he had to move out of the apartment. It was the first place that he had ever called home, the first place that he belonged. And because of me, he was out.

What else could I do? Stay there forever? With him? The boy who broke my heart all those years ago? I was _not_ about to waste my life there. It had been hard enough getting over him, considering I lived with the boy. Oh, yes. It had been hard. And maybe… maybe Blue was the reason I was over him. Because it took me so long to say goodbye, and I just had.

It was almost nice to get away from him, to not have to worry about hiding out in my room and blasting some music because I didn't want to listen to him in his room getting busy with some girl he had brought home for the night. But… he was still my friend, and seeing him look so hurt made me empathize with him. I knew what it was like to feel abandoned—and he knew it too many times. Again and again people had left him, and now I had done the exact same thing.

At least he had Lynda there to keep him company. I didn't know if he had agreed to permanently move in with her, but Ethan told me that Silver had told him that the redhead was staying with Lynda for the time being. And just like that we were all out of the apartment, all moved-in with our significant others… and I kind of hoped that they stayed significant. Silver needed that sort of commitment in his life.

And goodness knows that Mattie and Ethan were perfect together; there was no need for me to even worry about the two of them. Wedding planning was definitely trying, and I had to admit that even I was getting sick of doing helping with the planning when it wasn't even my wedding. I just hoped it didn't show on my face.

The wedding was coming up so quickly. As time passed, the week before Ethan and Mattie's wedding came before we knew it. Summer was upon us, and the bachelorette and bachelor parties had been eventful, to say the least (I had never expected a drunken Mattie to be so hilarious, but I couldn't remember too much of what she had done). I didn't even want to know what Silver had planned for Ethan.

Now that those parties were out of the way, Mattie and Ethan looked so nervous—like those parties had been the last symbols of being apart. But they weren't scared of being together. In fact, they belonged together. They were just nervous about messing up during the wedding, probably. I wasn't brave enough to ask.

"It's really weird," Mattie told me as we lounged together on her deck. Ethan and Mattie's house was really nice, and I found myself visiting more often as the wedding approached—often times on Mattie's invitation, not Ethan's. It wasn't just for bridesmaid stuff, either; Mattie genuinely wanted to get to know me more.

I took a sip of my lemonade, lifting my sunglasses to look at her. "What is?"

"This, I guess." Mattie sighed, sitting up in the lounge chair and crossing her legs. "I mean, do you remember being young? It seems so long ago… But I remember when I got my first Pokémon. I went on an adventure when I was just ten. It's so weird that it happened so many years ago. Over a decade ago. Getting married just makes me feel old, you know?"

I smiled, pulling my sunglasses back down over my eyes. "You're telling me. Moving in with Blue kind of made me realize I'm not a child anymore. I'm an adult—I'm twenty-four. That is so _old_. I'm not sure I'm okay with getting old so quickly. Before we know it, we're going to be in nursing homes, and our grandkids will be visiting."

"Don't even say that," Mattie joked, and I laughed. "What's really weird, though, is that I'm changing my name. I mean… I've always wanted to change my name when I got married. But after being me for so long… it's weird that I'm taking Ethan's last name. Like everything I've known about myself all this time is suddenly null and void."

She made a good point. I hadn't even thought about that—but it was just a name, right? Nothing was really changing.

"Yeah," I said, anyway, sitting up and facing Mattie. Her hair was practically glowing in the light of the sun, and her normally pale arms were turning a darker shade with the help of the sun. Even I was getting a little bit darker, a little bit redder. "Suddenly, you're not you anymore. You're a part of him."

Mattie hummed in agreement, grabbing her lemonade and twirling her straw around. "But it's something good to be a part of, don't you think?"

Blue… I felt that way about him, too.

So, I nodded, falling back against the lounge chair again, staring up at the sky, not a single cloud obscuring the view. "I think so."

* * *

"Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh…"

I watched as Mattie paced around the room in her wedding dress, looking completely frantic and a little insane. I made a mental note to myself never to get this way the day before my wedding—her hair was completely falling out of its up-do. Not that it really mattered. It wasn't like this was the real wedding, and that wasn't even what her hair was going to look like tomorrow. Rehearsals were supposed to be like this.

The dress, she had decided, was swallowing her, too large and too obnoxious for this wedding. Ethan, she told me, wouldn't like it on her, and she had proceeded to pace around the room in a haste, as if doing that would help. I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to say to her, especially when she was like this.

"It looks fine. You don't need to wear it for this, anyway," I assured her, and she turned towards me, sighing happily.

Really? That was all she needed to hear? Seriously?

There was a knock on the door, and Mattie jumped, hurrying towards it. "Who is it?" she asked, probably checking to make sure it wasn't Ethan. I had heard that it was bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony, but I doubted that bad luck even existed for a couple like Mattie and Ethan.

"Silver," a muffled voice responded, and I rose to my feet, flattening out of my dress and hurrying to the door. Mattie backed out of the way, and I opened the door just a crack, looking out at the redheaded man standing in the hallway. It was enough to shock me, and I furrowed my eyebrows as I stared out at him.

Looking back at Mattie, I frowned. "I'll be back in just a minute, I promise. Just… one of the other girls can help you out of the dress, okay?"

I slipped out of the room before I even got a response from her. Grabbing Silver's arm, I pulled him to a quieter room, looking at him and hoping that he would just tell me what happened. The poor boy looked _horrible_. His eyes were a little sunken in, like he had missed out on sleep, and his general expression told me that something was wrong.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"I was just sent to tell you ladies that we have fifteen minutes before the rehearsal begins." Silver crossed his arms, trying to pull his arm out of my grip. It didn't take much effort for him to succeed at doing that. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but you're wasting time. I have to go back to… I just have to go, okay?"

Grabbing his arm again, I received a dark look. He made an effort for the door, but I ran over—in heels, nonetheless—and jumped in front of it, slamming it shut. This was, admittedly, the most conversation we had had in the past few weeks, and it was a little awkward. But it wouldn't be nearly so awkward if he just told me what happened…

"Silver, what _happened_?"

He narrowed his eyes, grabbing my wrist and tugging me out of the way. "Nothing," he responded dryly, and reached for the doorknob. "You're being stupid."

I couldn't fight him. Not here, not now. But I wasn't going to let him leave without telling me what had happened—because, even if it wasn't any of my business, I wanted to know. He was still my friend. He was _still_ my friend… and if something was wrong, then I wanted to make sure it was fixed.

"Do you no longer have an escort?"

He stopped, looking back at me with such a dark look that I winced. There was so much anger in that look, so much pain, and I knew I was right. Because there was no way that I could be incorrect. No way.

"What?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes even more.

"Silver… what happened?"

His mad expression relaxed, replacing it with a different one—a rare one. It wasn't often that I saw Silver look so visibly upset. Usually I had to guess. But here he was, standing in front of me with those red eyes even redder than usual, even sadder than usual. And there was only so much that I could say if he didn't say anything first.

"I'm staying in a hotel in the city for now. The one on Verona Street. I don't know how long I'll be there," Silver muttered, as if whispering it would make it less real. "I'm probably going to get a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Goldenrod or something. I can't really afford anything else right now. But I can't stay with her."

All I could do was stare at him. As he spoke, so softly that I had to strain to hear him, I felt some shivers crawl up my spine. It was selfish of me to think of myself while he was talking, but what if this happened to Blue and me? I would be just like Silver…

"Lynda kind of… kicked me out, actually. And she said she wouldn't come to the wedding anymore, either. I was the only reason she was invited, she said, and she didn't want to be here with me." Silver looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "I told her about our bet. That's why she broke up with me. I told her…"

I inhaled sharply, holding my breath for far too long. "You what?" I asked, and he met my gaze again. "Silver, why would you do that? Didn't you know what would happen if you told her about that? This isn't the most innocent of bets, you know. No one would really take kindly to the idea of being part of a game."

"I needed to tell her," Silver argued, his voice finally getting louder. There was something stronger in it now, something brighter. "This might not be right, but it's even less right to hide it, isn't it? As soon as you told me that you wanted to forfeit, I _knew_ I lost. Which is why I told Lynda. I thought about it for a long time… and I had to. How could I continue on without telling her? How was that okay?"

I raised my eyebrows, taking a step away from him. This was too much to take in all at once. He was the one who agreed to the bet. He was the one who slept with random girls he didn't even know. And he was telling _me_ that it was wrong to keep this bet a secret? What the hell was going on here? What was he thinking?

"Silver… you haven't lost. I even offered to let you win."

"You have something with Blue." His tone returned to the soft, unsure one from before, and I gritted my teeth. "How would you feel if you went through this entire thing never having told him what was really going on here? And if he ever found out on his own, there would be no chance of you being okay."

My eyes widened, and I walked forward, grabbing Silver's shirt with both of my hands. "Don't tell him. We have a truce. You can't tell him."

Silver held up his hands, pushing me away from him. "I've already lost. I don't have any need to tell Blue about this. But can you really continue on in your relationship without being completely honest with him? I think that just proves to me that I was always right. There are no meaningful relationships anymore. Not if they're built through competition."

"You're cheating. You're cheating!" I shouted, backing away from him once again. This was so unfair! He was just trying to make me feel guilty! He had _so_ much to gain from telling Blue about the bet. It would level the playing field again. And how more satisfying would it be if I were the one who forced myself to lose?

"No. I'm just making sense."

Silver grabbed the doorknob again, heading out of the room without another word. I stood there, completely flabbergasted. And I had been _concerned_ about him! He was just a sneaky jerk who only cared about winning!

But… maybe… maybe he was right.

I just couldn't tell Blue. Not if it meant ending up like Silver and Lynda. I didn't want to risk losing Blue when he wouldn't find out anyway. Wasn't it better to keep secrets that you knew would never be discovered than share them and destroy everything you ever had? Wasn't that the smarter choice in the end?

No. That was wrong. That was so wrong! But… what was I supposed to do? What was I going to do? There was nothing that I could do to make this situation an ideal one. I should have never made that bet with Silver. But it was too late for that.

Well, untold secrets never hurt anyone.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter was going to be a lot longer, but I decided that—since a lot of stuff happened in this chapter—I would break it up into two chapters instead. So, you'll find out how Lyra screwed things up next time.

So, Lynda and Silver are done (Silver isn't lying about that piece—I can't guarantee whether he IS trying to trick Lyra or not, though). They actually lasted a surprisingly long time. They started dating a month or so after Lyra and Blue did. And considering how annoying Lynda is, that's pretty impressive.

She might make an appearance again, though. :)

Anyway, since I'm curious—on my, like, main page, I have a poll set up asking whether you would prefer to see Lyra end up with Silver or Blue. This in no way affects the outcome of this fanfiction (I've had it planned out for far too long to change it now, LOL), but I just want to know what you all think. So, if you want to vote on that poll, that'd be cool!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

I shouldn't have been more nervous than Mattie was; it wasn't like this was _my_ wedding. Yet there was a pit in my stomach, a weird queasiness that I couldn't get to go away. And it had all started when Silver walked out on me. My hands shook and my heart pounded, and whenever anyone asked, I just told them I was afraid of tripping in my heels.

But I wasn't. I could handle some three inch heels, no problem. It was psychological dilemmas that I couldn't handle.

All right, I could admit it: it was wrong for me to keep this bet a secret from Blue. It had always been wrong. Since the beginning, this entire thing was just one stupid mistake. And Silver had been a better person than I had by telling Lynda about the whole thing. Sure, it had ruined his relationship with her, but did he ever really love her in the first place? Because it seemed to me that the only reason he had ever dated her was to win.

So, why did I need to tell Blue when the bet wasn't the reason I was dating him in the first place? I loved him. I really did. The bet had no influence over my decision to date him, and while it was great that I could prove Silver wrong and win while dating Blue, it didn't hold sovereignty over my judgment. Winning this little competition meant nothing to me if I couldn't be with Blue. And wasn't that more important?

Blue would leave if I told him. I just couldn't risk that.

But maybe I was wrong. Because I already knew that it was stupid of me to not tell Blue. Relationships were built on mutual trust, not on secrets. If I kept secrets, maybe that meant Blue was keeping secrets; I didn't want to believe that. The only way for the trust to be kept between us was if I told him.

And if Blue was really the man I thought he was, then he would stay with me. He would listen to what I had to say and respect what I had been trying to prove with this bet all along. My intentions were honorable, never licentious like Silver's, and Blue would be pleased that I trusted him enough to share this with him. Right? It was a good thing. But maybe not…

There were so many things I was unsure of, and I felt at war with myself. It was not a good place for a bridesmaid to be psychologically, especially on the day of the wedding. And it was clear that people noticed my somewhat peculiar behavior and nervous demeanor. The other bridesmaids and the families all gave me strange looks as I fidgeted with the hem of my dress over and over, tugging it down and then pulling it up.

"Lyra, honey, are you all right?"

I swallowed, dropping the hem of my dress and looking up at the woman talking to me. Ethan's mom smiled, apparently concerned. I couldn't help but think it sweet that she was so worried about me when her son was the one getting married. She didn't really have anything to worry about with Mattie, but shouldn't she have been more preoccupied with that?

"Oh. I'm fine," I assured her, but she just raised an eyebrow.

"Lyra, I have known you for a long time. I think I can tell when you're not feeling well." She touched my arm, gesturing over to a couple of chairs. "Why don't we sit down and talk for a little while? You look like you just need to share your thoughts. I need to catch up with you, anyway. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

I shouldn't have done it. I should have sat down with her, should have told her everything I was feeling (because who better to tell my insecurities to than a woman who had been married so many years—a woman I knew very well and who I trusted). I should have let it all out; she would have given me good advice.

But I didn't.

"I'm sorry," I said instead, tugging at the hem of my dress again. "I should go finish getting ready. I have so much to do."

That was a lie. I was all ready, dressed up in my bridesmaid dress, hair pulled back into a delicate bun, two strands falling out along my cheeks. My flowers had been placed on the table beside the doors of the chapel, ready for us whenever Mattie was ready for Ethan. I had nothing left to do but sit and wait. There was time to talk.

I just turned and hurried away, refusing to talk because I couldn't think of what to say.

* * *

Mattie was beautiful, a vision in white, her dress which she had been so nervous about flowing around her like white rapids. Ethan was handsome, his suit the color of obsidian, matching his hair. Together, black and white, they completed their own little puzzle. They made such a perfect pair.

Everyone in the pews was crying, tears falling down their cheeks as they watched Mattie walk down the aisle towards Ethan. As I stood in the front, having already walked, I glanced at Ethan; there was such a light in his eyes! The way he looked at Mattie—the way you could just _see_ the love—was so impressive. Everything that anyone ever wanted in a relationship, they had.

And I was the fool. I was the naïve one.

It took everything in my power to hold back tears as I glanced at Blue in the pews, staring at me instead of at Mattie and Ethan. He must have thought they were tears of joy, since he smiled at me, but they weren't. I was afraid, scared for what I was going to do. I wanted what Mattie and Ethan had, but I wasn't going to get it.

"We are gathered here today in the face of this company, to join together Ethan and Mattie in matrimony; which is an honorable and solemn estate and therefore is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly but reverently and soberly. Into this estate these two persons present come now to be joined. If anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

The minister glanced around the crowd, a smile on his lips. He knew no one would ever object to this wedding. No person with a soul would ever. The couple up there, standing before the minister with their eyes sparkling so brightly, were too perfect for anyone to object. And the silence only spoke to that. If there was such a thing as a match made in heaven, here it was, created for my best friend.

And I was happy for him. Truly, I was.

"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" the minister continued, turning to face Mattie's dad—who had his arm linked around Mattie's arm—and smiling at him.

Her dad bent over and kissed his daughter on the cheek, unlinking his arm from hers. "Her father does," he managed to choke out, so completely overwhelmed and happy. It had to be amazing watching his daughter getting married—like Mattie said, she had been young just a little while ago. Now this man was giving his daughter away.

He turned away from his daughter, Mattie watching him as he walked back into the pews. Then, as soon as he turned to face them again, her eyes went to Ethan. And that was that. She was no longer her father's little girl. She was Ethan's bride.

"Ethan," the minister began, addressing my best friend with such a soft tone, "do you take Mattie for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?"

Ethan didn't even hesitate. The words "I do" were out of his mouth not even a second after the minister finished. There were some chuckles from the families, and even I managed to smile at that. He had always been kind of impatient.

The minister turned to Mattie next, and Ethan reached towards her, taking her hands in his as the minister spoke similar words: "Mattie, do you take Ethan for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

Mattie, more delicately, replied, "I do."

I glanced back at Blue, and almost as if he knew I was looking, he tore his eyes away from the beautiful couple and stared at me again. It was horrible—horrible—of me to be thinking of anything except my best friend right now. But as I held eye contact with Blue, the brown-haired man still mistaking my insecurity for happiness.

My gaze moved over to Silver, standing on the other side of Ethan with his hands stuffed coolly in his pockets. His suit contrasted with his bright hair in a way that Ethan's did not, and it made his hair appear a little shocking. But it was still nice seeing him in a suit for a change; angry at him or not, I was woman enough to admit that he looked attractive.

Blue noticed where I had been looking. And that smile was no longer on his face.

The vows having been said, the ring bearer came forth with the rings, presenting them to the minister. Ethan took one, holding it in between his thumb and index finger in one hand and holding Mattie's left hand with his other.

"May this ring be blessed so he who gives it and she who wears it may abide in peace and continue in love until life's end," the minister said, and nodded to Ethan.

Ethan slid the ring onto Mattie's ring, holding her hand so gently. "With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment," he told her, smiling at her. It was obvious, at least to me, that he took the symbol seriously.

The minister handed the second ring to Mattie, placing it carefully in her tiny hands. "May this ring be blessed so that she who gives it and he who wears it may abide in peace and continue in love until life's end."

"With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment," Mattie repeated in the same tone as Ethan's, her voice soft. She slid the ring onto his finger. Even though I couldn't see her face, as her back was facing me, I could tell that she was smiling. Just the way her cheeks moved and her hair bounced, I could picture it.

The minister held his arms up, a joyous smile on his face. "May this couple be prepared to continue to give, be able to forgive and experience more and more joy with each passing day, with each passing year. Ethan and Mattie are now beginning their married life together; we hope that they may have loving assistance from their family, the constant support of friends, and a long life with good health and everlasting love. In so much as Ethan and Mattie have consented to live forever in wedlock, and have witnessed the same before this company, having given their pledge and troth, each to the other, and having declared same by the giving and receiving of a ring, I pronounce that they are husband and wife." He nodded at Ethan. "You may kiss the bride."

I was a coward. As Ethan leaned down to kiss Mattie, I turned away, tugging at my hem just one more time.

* * *

I didn't want to ruin anything at the wedding or its reception. Instead, I waited until I was home to do that. Because what better place to get in a fight than the comfort of your home? And I knew that was coming. As much as I wanted to believe in Blue, as much as I wanted to think he wouldn't fight me… he was arrogant. I knew that about him. And he wouldn't take kindly to this.

"Beautiful," Blue said as he collapsed on our bed in the master bedroom. I folded my hands together, not saying anything. It had been beautiful, certainly; I just wished I hadn't been so preoccupied with this. I had played it over again and again in my mind, trying to think of some sort of speech. It wasn't working.

"Blue?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk… about something…" I started, my voice wavering in and out of tone. I bit my lip, furrowing my eyebrows. Oh, come on, Lyra. All I needed to do was follow through. I couldn't keep changing my mind.

Blue looked up at me, and something flashed through his eyes. All I could do was think back to the moment when Blue noticed me staring at Silver. Because I knew that was what he was thinking. But this had nothing to do with that. Anything that he was thinking was wrong, and this was not the way this should start.

"Oh."

"It's not… what you're thinking." I shoved my hands in my pockets, and Blue squirmed on the bed uncomfortably. "In fact, you probably wouldn't even think of this, like… ever. That's how ashamed I am of it. Because I've been keeping it a secret, and you wouldn't have ever found out. And that's wrong of me."

Blue continued to just stare at me for a moment, a wave of horror passing through his eyes. "What did you do?"

I swallowed, backing away a little. "Before we started dating, I made a bet with Silver. A… competition, if you will. Whoever got engaged first would win the bet. If I won, Silver would have to admit that he was wrong, that people could have meaningful relationships. I wanted to prove that, Blue. That was all I ever meant." I covered my mouth with my hand, unbelieving that I had just told him that. But it was out now.

"So, you're only with me because you want to win."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

But I shook my head anyway. "That was never why, Blue. Never. I'm with you because I want to be with you. I'm with you not because of some stupid competition but because of _you_. This competition… it means nothing to me if I can't be with you. It means nothing to me at all. I just want to be with you. I just… Blue…"

He rose to his feet, closing the distance between us, and looked down at me with an expression that I couldn't quite decipher. Whatever he was thinking, whatever he wanted to say, he was holding it back, keeping this a secret from me. With one secret came more, and I had been asking for it. This was the consequence.

"I wanted to prove that people can be together… and you are proving that, whether this bet ever existed or not, Blue. Because I _love_ you. Everything that I've ever said has been the honest truth, and I know you love me, too." At least… I hoped he did. "I couldn't tell you because I was embarrassed. I never meant for this to go so far. It's so meaningless to me—you're not."

His hands began to shake, ever so slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Lyra, you lied to me."

"I know."

"And how can I really know if you love me? You made that bet with Silver… you wanted to prove to _him_ that there were meaningful relationships. But why would that have ever mattered to you if he was involved?" He paused, running a shaky hand through his hair. "Before we started dating, I told you what I thought of you and Silver."

I shook my head, curling my hands into fists. "You were wrong."

"But how can I know that?" Blue demanded, his voice rising so dramatically that I jumped, taking a step back. "If you couldn't tell me about this—which… maybe it would have been different if I hadn't fallen for you. But I did. And you took advantage of that. I just… I don't know how I can trust you. I saw the way you were looking at him during the wedding."

"Blue!" I rubbed my eyes, feeling them well up with tears. "I told you, he means nothing. We dated once, but… I'm over him. I love you, not him."

He frowned, touching my arm gently. "I'm not so sure."

And that was it. That one movement, that one sentence. It was enough. This house meant nothing anymore, this love meant nothing, and this stupid relationship meant nothing. Maybe Silver was right. Maybe there were no such things as meaningful relationships. Because no one was honest enough anymore to keep them.

So, I just uncurled my fists and spun on my heel, heading straight for the door. I hoped—prayed—that Blue would stop me, grab my hand and pull me back, ravish me if he had to. But he didn't. He let me go, and as I walked out the front door, he didn't watch from our bedroom window. _His_ bedroom window.

And it was done.

* * *

I went to the only place I could think of. Obviously I wouldn't be able to crash at Mattie and Ethan's house (because everyone knew what they were doing right now, and I wasn't particularly fond of threesomes), so he was the only other person I knew to go to. The only person I wanted to go to now.

I absolutely hated it. I hated feeling dependent on him, especially when he was the one who made me dependent on him in the first place. Because none of this would have happened if he didn't sleep around, if he didn't make me so angry, if he never told me what he told Lynda, if he never broke up with me.

But the blame was mine. I needed to accept that now.

I didn't call first, and I wasn't entirely sure where he was, other than the hotel name. When I reached the front desk, I asked for his room number, and they called him, making sure that it was all right that they send me up to him. And it was all right. Of course it was. He wanted to see the look on my face when I got up there.

I broke down on the elevator, before I could even make it to his room. And the second I knocked on his door, it flew open, and there he was, waiting for me. He was still in his suit, the tie undone and hanging loosely around his neck, and his white button-up shirt was hanging out of his pants. But he still didn't look as messy as I felt.

"Silver," I muttered, letting the tears fall down my face.

And as I hurried towards him, wrapping my arms around his torso and burying my face in his chest, I bawled my eyes out.

There was no feeling better than the feeling of him wrapping his arms back around me, resting his cheek on top of my head and pulling me into his room to let me cry.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I used the same script for this wedding as I did for "Broken"; partially because I couldn't find anything better and partially because I wasn't looking very hard. LOL. Ah well. I think it's typical of weddings (the ones I've seen, at least). I realize that not all weddings go like this, but I figured I should stick to what I know.

I have finals next week, so I dunno when I'll update next. But eventually.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

I began to feel quite a bit better after a few shots.

Silver agreed that I could take those cheap bottles of hotel liquor if I paid for them, and after slapping down a few bucks, I was downing that stuff like it was water. The mini glasses by the sinks served as my shot glasses, and I took four or five of them. It had come to a point that I couldn't really remember how many. But I didn't mind; I couldn't really remember what Blue had said to me that night, either.

"I just want to forget everything that happened, Silver," I had told him, grasping the bottle of liquor in my hands. He hadn't seemed particularly impressed by my decision, but what else could I do? "There's so much I regret doing, and I know adding one thing to the list won't make a difference if it makes the pain go away."

Silver had attempted to take the bottle away from me first, before he agreed. "Drinking to forget is how you start a problem, Lyra," he argued, reaching towards me to take it. I yanked it away, nearly smashing it against the wall. "I'm not going to let you do that to yourself. It's just a break up. Get over it."

I began crying again—_that_ got Silver worried. "I can't! I can't get over it! Just give me _one_ night. I'll never drink again. Just let me go."

And he had agreed in the end. But I probably would have taken it, anyway.

Now, climbing up on Silver's bed, I rose to my feet, swaying as the mattress gently sloped beneath my feet. I jumped up and down, singing random love songs at the top of my lungs and nearly falling off the bed every few seconds. Silver watched me wearily, sitting in one of the arm chairs next to the bed instead of joining me.

Loser. He didn't know what he was missing! This was _awesome_!

"Silvy! Silver, Silver!" I called to him, continuing to jump up and down on the bed. He seemed a little amused, and I knew he was laughing at me. I just didn't even care anymore. I probably wouldn't remember tomorrow, anyway, so it didn't matter what I did. "You're such a party pooper! Come up here with me! Take a couple shots! We've gotta finish the bottle off, silly! I paid for it; go right ahead!"

"No. And you're being really loud. And your dress is really short."

I furrowed my eyebrows, jumping down off the bed and nearly falling to my knees—I would have if Silver hadn't slid out of the chair and grabbed my arms to stop me. Laughing, I wrapped my arms around his neck. It had been a long time since I'd done that. But, even though years and years had passed, it kind of felt the same.

He reached for my arms again, removing them from around his neck, and pushed himself away from me. That hadn't been particularly polite. Why was he being so boring? This wasn't college. He didn't have any commitments. We could get drunk any day of the week, and no one would even care! How awesome was that? We could be completely shitfaced, and it wouldn't even matter!

"Silvy." I pointed to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He rolled his eyes and went back over to his arm chair. "You… suck. You're missing out, old buddy! But, oh, oh! You know something _weird_? Your name is Silver, right?" He raised his eyebrows at me, and I laughed again. "But you have red hair and eyes and stuff. Like… why would your dad name you Silver if you're not, like… silver?"

He just stared at me. I didn't really know why he was giving me such a weird look. It made a whole lot of sense to me.

"I guess Blue's like that, too, though…" I slurred, smacking a hand to my face and sighing. "He's not very blue. Unless you count sad. But he's not really sad, either. Except for tonight. He was kind of sad then, I think. Because I ripped out his heart and stepped on it about a thousand times." I sighed again, feeling suddenly like Blue's name—blue. Stupid. I didn't want that. "Silvy, please drink with me."

Silver shook his head. "I don't think so." He stood up, grabbing the bottle of vodka from the nightstand and moving it back over with the other bottles. "I don't think it's a very good idea for the two of us to be drunk together when we're both getting over breakups. It wouldn't end very well. Someone would regret it."

"I wouldn't," I muttered, jumping off the bed again and sitting instead on the arm of his chair. "What's wrong with us being drunk together?"

He fidgeted in the chair, scooting away from me as much as possible. "It just wouldn't be smart. A drunk girl and a drunk guy—both of whom used to date each other—in a hotel room together after getting broken up with? I don't think so. Because I know myself enough to know that I'd be all over you, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't stop me—you'd just yell at me later. And your voice is, let's face it, not the most pleasant thing to listen to when you're hungover. I'm not going to take advantage of you."

I pouted. "Oh. Any other girl, you'd take advantage of her…"

He stood up now, walking towards the sliding door to the balcony and staring outside. He grabbed the curtains, sliding them over the door to block the darkness from seeping into the room. Standing there for a few seconds longer, I watched as he crossed his arms, refusing to turn back around. And when he finally did, he seemed a bit annoyed.

"Not true."

"Very true," I replied, smiling at him. He knew it.

"I don't take advantage of them," Silver retorted, seeming angry now. "Never. I may like to have fun every once in awhile, but so do they. They choose to sleep with me. I've never once slept with a girl who didn't want to do anything like that. And I never would. I have morals, Lyra. It might not seem like it to you, but I do."

I moved off the arm of his chair and onto the seat itself, laughing again. "Yeah, whatever. All I'm saying is that I—"

I stopped, jumping to my feet. My stomach churned a little, and I covered my hand with my mouth. I knew this feeling; I had only ever drank to this point once before in my life, and I had sworn that I wouldn't do it again. But here I was, ready to puke my guts out all over again, all for Blue. It was great. He was so worth it.

"I'm gonna be sick," I told Silver, and without another word, I sprinted to the bathroom and slammed the door behind me.

It only took a few seconds for it to open again, and as I leaned over the hotel toilet, Silver kneeled down behind me, grabbing my hair and holding it back for me as I flushed all of my regrets down the toilet.

* * *

I didn't remember getting into the bed, and I didn't remember falling asleep. The last thing I remembered, in fact, was a shiny white toilet bowl and a roaring flushing sound repeatedly buzzing in my ears. When had that been? Today? Last night? This morning? How long had I sat there with Silver holding my hair back and rubbing my back?

And when had the room gotten so bright, the air conditioner so loud? And when had this headache shown up?

Groaning in protest to these things, I rolled over in the bed. Silver was in that same old arm chair, his head rolled back and his arms crossed, sleeping like a baby. Huh. I did get pissed at Silver an awful lot—but he was, as much as I hated to admit it, a good guy. That was nice of him to give me the bed when I wasn't even the one paying to sleep in this hotel. I had just barged in on him, hadn't I?

I couldn't exactly remember why though…

Oh yeah. Blue.

Silver shifted in his seat, and I rolled back over, closing my eyes and pretending to be asleep. In fact, I probably could fall back asleep pretty easily. The headache was driving me nuts, and if I kept my eyes open any longer, I was pretty sure the light peeking in from the shades would burn my eyes out. So, sleeping sounded like a better alternative.

But Silver must have noticed I was awake; either that, or he had just gone from really nice to really rude in a matter of seconds. A burst of light shot into the room, and I cringed, throwing the covers completely over my head to obscure the light from my eyes. Really now? Did he really have to open the curtains?

"Go away, Sun! Come back later when my head isn't going to explode!" I told it, but to no avail. The sun stayed. "Thanks, Silver."

"Nasty hangover?" Silver asked, and I whipped the covers off my head to look at him. Mistake. "That's your fault for drinking more than you should have. You were pretty pathetic yesterday." I pulled the covers back over my head, refusing to listen anymore. "And I had a great time playing sober babysitter."

"Shut up."

"Just saying."

I sighed. As much as I wanted to, and as good of an idea as it sounded, I probably couldn't stay in bed for the rest of my life. So, I pulled the covers off of me again and slid my legs to the edge of the bed. It was then that I noticed I wasn't wearing my bridesmaid dress anymore—the simple lavender dress had been replaced with a too-large t-shirt.

Which I didn't remember putting on. But, then, I didn't remember a lot of things.

"Where'd I get this?" I asked Silver, tugging at the sleeve of the shirt. "Did you… undress me last night?"

Silver's face turned as red as his hair. He didn't even need to answer the question for me to know that he did, indeed, take my bridesmaid dress off of me and slip me into his t-shirt. One part of me wanted to chuckle at the fact that he was blushing at this—but the other, and more potent, part of me wanted to scream.

Because I hadn't exactly been wearing much under it. I didn't have a bra on with the dress, and my thong didn't really cover that much up. And those were parts of me that I didn't necessarily want Silver to see. Sure, if doing the laundry hadn't been awkward enough back at the apartment, then this had to be a thousand times worse.

"Silver!"

Argh. Silver was right—my voice definitely wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear with a hangover.

"I didn't want you to ruin your dress sleeping! Girls freak out about that kind of stuff!" Silver said defensively, holding his hands up.

"Yeah, and we also freak out about guys seeing them basically naked without their permission—which you most certainly did not have!" I yelled, standing up and stomping towards Silver. Something flashed through his eyes, and I wanted to laugh. He was afraid of me. How funny. "I know you're used to seeing girls with no clothes on, but… I'm not okay with this."

Silver furrowed his eyebrows, all the fear vanished from his eyes. It was replaced with fury, and I took a step back, crossing my arms. Well, whatever he had to be angry about couldn't possibly compare to this. He had no right… I didn't care whether my bridesmaid dress was ruined—it wasn't like I could ever wear it again.

"Why do you always bring that up?" he demanded. "You make me sound like some kind of man-whore."

I moved my hands to my hips, narrowing my eyes at him. "Maybe because you are."

"I'm not! Geez, Lyra, I'm not!" He threw his hands up, walking around me towards the closet. Pulling my dress out, he shoved it at me. "Take it. Now that you've got everything out of your system, go back to your precious Blue. Now that _you_ have taken advantage of _me_, you can leave. And you don't have to come back."

I raised my eyebrows, earnestly confused. "What? I'm not…"

"Why would you come to me?" Silver asked, something different in his voice. "Why would you run to me when Blue broke up with you? Because… this whole thing seems like more than just a game to you. You have messed with me again and again, and I really just…" He sighed. "If you really think that I just play with girls, then you obviously don't know me."

"Silver, _what_ are you talking about? I haven't been messing with you. And I only came here because I didn't know where else to go. I figured you would understand. I mean, you and Lynda—"

Silver laughed, completely cutting me off. "Lynda! Oh, please." He laughed again, and my eyes widened. No way… "I never expected to win our little competition. The only reason I was going out with Lynda was because she reminded me of you. She's pretty, she's a strong battler, she's arrogant. She's a lot like you."

Then… what?

"Silver… why did you ever break up with me?"

Now he looked ashamed, and he hung his head to avoid my gaze. But I was staring at him anyway, completely confused as to what the heck was going on. All this time… Lynda had meant nothing to him. Had she known that? Had she known that the only reason he was going out with her was because of me?

_That_ was why she hated me so much. Then why had she put up with it?

"I've only ever known one thing, Lyra—abandonment. Growing up, my mother left me, and my father left me, and Team Rocket left me. Everything I ever loved—or wanted to love—had left me alone. And then you came along. Every single time we ran into each other… I left to avoid being the one left behind instead." He seemed a little exasperated by this. Who was I to blame him?

"When I moved in with you at your house in New Bark Town, I was really excited to have something solid… and I fell for you. The whole time, really, I had been falling for you." He smiled, laughing so quietly that it sounded more like quick breaths than laughter. "And that was bad. Really bad. Because everything that I loved always left."

I shook my head, curling my fingers into my palms. "I never planned on leaving!"

"You wanted to do your research with Professor Oak… you were going to leave," Silver said, and I pursed my lips. "So, I broke up with you before you could rip my heart out. Because I didn't want to be left behind again."

No. No, he… he had ripped out _my_ heart.

"I had been right, of course." Silver crossed his arms, finally looking up at me again. There was a certain dryness in his eyes that I couldn't explain. "You left, did your research with Oak—eventually you came back and moved in with Ethan, and then I came back again. I figured that I would move on, but I never really did. And sleeping with all those girls… well, that was the only way I could have any sort of relationship without being hurt."

The jerk.

"You're so selfish! Didn't you think about me?" I demanded, and Silver appeared astounded by my question. Right. Because _of course_ he had; was I crazy? "You only worried about you! You were afraid that _you'd_ end up hurt, but you completely broke my heart! I loved you, Silver! I really did, and I never planned on leaving you! You forced this all upon yourself because you were afraid of what I was never going to do."

He stared at me for what seemed like forever, and I pressed my nails further into my palms.

"You could have had me!" I punched his arm with one of my fists, more exasperated than he was now. He didn't really react to it. "But now you can't."

"Lyra, you're the only one who has ever mattered to me! You're the only one I've ever really cared about!"

He closed the distance between us, reaching out and putting his hands on my cheeks. I knew what he was doing. I knew it. But before I could pull myself away, he bent down and kissed me, his lips touching mine so delicately and genuinely—like he used to. Like what I remembered. This was so different than our last kiss.

This was so different than being with Blue.

Blue.

"Stop," I muttered, pushing Silver away. He listened, backing away from me and pulling his hands away from my cheeks. "I'm… I'm going home. To my house—with Blue. And I'm not coming back here." I paused, lowering my eyes. "Just like you asked."

"Lyra, I can—"

I turned away, touching my lips—still tingling—with my fingertips. "Well, I can't."

Without another word, I grabbed my bridesmaid dress, slipped on my high heels, and left the hotel room. None of this was right anymore.

And I needed to make it right.

* * *

**Author's Note:** All right! I've reached novel length with this fanfiction! Whoo-hoo! That makes me excited. I always get really happy whenever any of my fanfictions get that long. Although some people don't like long fanfictions, I love them.

Anyways. About… half of your questions have been answered, right? And some nice Soulsilvership moments, huh? ;) But I should think that this also brings up some other questions. Like… what the heck is Lyra gonna do now?

It's actually really amazing that it's so even between people who want her to end up with Silver and people who want her to end up with Blue. Should make the ending of this fanfic interesting, hmm? I'm looking forward to it!

Finals this week… I probably won't write another chapter until I'm home on Friday, so… maybe an update Saturday?

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

I probably should have checked my PokéGear sooner. When I finally did, I was already halfway to Violet City in the air. I should have checked it before Silver had the chance to kiss me. I should have checked it before I even went to Silver's hotel room. I was an idiot, a naïve little girl, and I obviously couldn't do anything right.

There were twenty-two missed calls. All from Blue.

Well, damn.

All things considered, I probably should have at least glanced at my PokéGear last night or this morning before I left. In fact, I had no idea why it never crossed my mind that Blue might actually care and might try to call me. It seemed like the most obvious thing; after all, it wasn't as if he knew where I had gone. So, how could he come after me if he didn't know where I was?

"Lyra, can we please talk?" just about all of them said. "I tried to come after you, but you had already left by the time I got outside. I'm really sorry for not coming after you right away. It was just a bit of a shock for me, is all. But… I reacted like an idiot, so I want to talk to you. Can you please come back to the house? Or at least pick up…" Then, he would sigh every time, sounding like he had just run a marathon and hang up.

But the last one was different. That last call—that twenty-second call—he finally concluded, "Lyra, please call me back when you're ready."

_When you're ready_. That was the piece that really got me. It wasn't, "Hey, call me back now, you loony!" And it wasn't, "Call me back soon or I'm giving up." It was, "Call me back when you're ready." And I could be ready whenever I wanted. Years from now maybe. But he would, if he kept his word, be waiting. Because he cared about me. He wanted me to call him when I was ready to call him. Not when I needed to.

I should have been ready. I was, after all, on my way back to the house. But there was something else stopping me from pressing that call button and shouting apologies back at Blue. I wanted to say them. I knew I needed to say them. But I didn't feel ready. I didn't think this was the way I was supposed to feel heading back—so much in my mind, so much weighing on my shoulders. Because one way or another, I was breaking someone's heart.

I wouldn't say it was unfair. It wasn't like Silver or Blue—or even me—had much of a choice as to who we all fell in love with. Because I loved Blue. But I had loved Silver. And a part of me still loved him—that part of me who could never give him up… that part of me that I always had to suppress because, after all, I was completely over him.

But I wasn't. I never had been. And I was, theoretically, mature enough to admit that now: I had never been completely over Silver. He had taken my heart and smashed it to pieces just because he was scared that I would do that to him. Some of me wanted to feel bad for him; his fear led to a fear of commitment, and that fear led to our breakup—even though he still loved me and had always loved me.

That wasn't going to change anything. It couldn't. I recognized how stupid I had been this entire time, how clueless I had been, how completely immature and naïve I had been. I should have known that Silver had never given up—from that time he kissed me in front of Blue all the way until now. I should have known. I had been living with the man, after all. But just because he loved me didn't mean I loved him back.

I had. Just not now.

Blue had seen to that. He had, in a way, saved me. It wasn't like being in love with Silver had ever threatened my life, but it was wrong to be in love with the same person—when you had no intention of being with them—for so long. I was stuck in the past, distracted from the present, unable to move beyond all of that.

Wait.

Maybe _that_ was why Professor Oak actually fired me. Because I was so stuck in the past, clinging to all I had known, that I couldn't see any further into the future—I couldn't even see what was right in front of me. And Professor Oak, being the genius that he was, saw right through me, knowing how conflicted I was. He wanted me to move on—even from the job that I had been so fond of for many, many years.

Well, if that was true, I needed to talk to him. I couldn't just head back to Blue like this, so completely unready. He didn't ask for that. He told me to call him when I was ready. And I would. Just not right now. He could keep guessing where I was, keep wanting to call again (I knew he wouldn't—not until I called first), but I wasn't coming back yet.

"Hey, Noctowl," I told my Pokémon, rubbing the top of its head, "can we change course? I want to go to Pallet Town to visit Professor Oak. You remember him, right?" Noctowl hooted in response, and I laughed. "I thought so. Thanks, Noctowl!"

It added some time to our trip, of course. And flying in a dress as short as my bridesmaid one—since I was _not_ going to wear Silver's shirt back to my house—wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing. But I could deal. I could handle this small inconvenience as long as I fixed things. There was so much I had to know, so much I had to say. And I could suffer this as long as I did.

Everything just seemed so far away now…

As Noctowl touched down in Pallet Town, I sprinted off of it, tugging my dress down and calling the giant bird back to its Poké Ball. Then, running towards Professor Oak's lab—however pathetically, considering my heels were so tall—I barged inside without so much as a knock. Several of the lab assistants looked at me, some calling my name in surprise, but I just stomped my way across the wooden floor towards the old man hiding in the back.

He spun around before I could say anything, folding his hands. "I thought I'd be seeing you soon. My grandson called," he told me.

I raised an eyebrow, though I figured Blue had probably tried to call everyone he knew trying to find me. If he had just waited a little while longer, I would have been here. Not that I could talk to him right now. No… I still needed a little bit more time. And he knew that—so did Professor Oak. I could just tell.

"Did he?"

Professor Oak nodded, a small smile on his usually-serious face. "Yes. He sounded a little worried." Professor Oak rose to his feet, moving over to one of the computers and typing something on the keyboard. Then, moving back to his chair, he swiveled around and typed something onto that keyboard. "Poor boy said that he had messed up."

_This_ surprised me. "What?" I brought a hand to my face, as if that would speed up my though process. "_He_ messed up? I don't know what he thinks he did. I was the one who made that stupid bet with Silver. I was the one who didn't tell Blue about it until now, and I was the one who walked out of the house and went to Silver."

He turned the chair back around, looking up at me with his eyes lit up. "You went to Silver? Hmm. How interesting." Professor Oak just continued to smile, and I narrowed my eyes. The old man had really lost it. "Well, Blue just thinks that it's his fault—he should have gone after you, he told me. It was probably a good thing he didn't."

"How so? I wouldn't have gone to Silver if he had come after me. Not that I'm blaming Blue… and it wasn't like I did anything with Silver—although he kissed me. But I didn't kiss him back! And I do plan on telling Blue about it… I can't hide anything else. Not that I plan on—"

"You talk too quickly," Professor Oak interrupted. "It's a good thing Blue didn't come after you because you _wouldn't_ have gone to Silver. You _wouldn't_ have come here. And, quite frankly, you needed both things to happen. Would you really be okay being with Blue if he had just come after you like that?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, crossing my arms. "Of course. I love him."

Professor Oak shook his head. "Why did you come here?"

I inhaled sharply, dropping my arms back down to my side. How could Professor Oak possibly know all of this? How could he possibly know how I felt? The old man had gone completely bonkers in his old age, but somehow, he was reading me like a book. I wasn't sure what I could even say anymore. He could just tell me everything.

But no. This was Oak we were talking about. He wouldn't give it all away that easily.

"I came here because I figured you could help. Because I thought you would know how to clear my mind a little bit. You… fired me because you wanted to pull me away from the past. And it took me a long time, even with Blue there. But you still saw what I couldn't, and… if you saw that, then maybe you could see more. And maybe you can help me now," I finally said, and Professor Oak's smile finally vanished.

That didn't seem good.

"You were so caught up in everything you've always known: being Champion, having this job, Silver—all of that. You needed to learn that your past doesn't necessarily define who you are." Professor Oak folded his hands once again, all of that seriousness that I knew so well on his wrinkled skin again. "Just because you were Champion doesn't mean you're still that person now. Just because you had this job doesn't mean you could have it forever. Just because you were in love with Silver doesn't mean you have to be forever."

I nodded, sighing again. "You're right."

"Let me tell you something," Professor Oak continued, his voice hoarse. "The first time I proposed to my wife, she said she needed to think about it. And that told me that—because she was unsure—the real answer was no. If she needed to think about it, we didn't belong together at that moment. So, I just waited for her answer anyway. She ended up saying yes, but I told her we needed to take a break before we could get married."

"But if she said yes, that meant she loved you, right? Why would you break up with her?" I asked, and Professor Oak shrugged.

"I wanted to make sure she meant it. If she loved me, she'd wait. And eventually we did get married, and we remained married until she passed away." His eyes flashed, something like sorrow—such a rare thing to see from Professor Oak—passing through. I bit my lip, unsure what to say. "We belonged together in the end."

I nodded, looking down at my hands and then tugging at my hem. "But I don't understand. It's a nice story, Professor, but I don't know what it has to do with me and Blue. Or me and Silver maybe. I just… I don't know."

Professor Oak smiled once again at me, his teeth shining. "You took a break from both of them—my grandson and Silver. Which one do you really _belong_ with? After stopping… who do you love more? Who can you say goodbye to?"

I stared at him, so completely baffled by his questions. What? Who did I belong with? Who do I love more? Who can I say goodbye to? What kind of questions were those? I didn't want to say goodbye to anyone! And… what if I loved them both—just one more platonically than the other? Didn't that say something?

He raised his eyebrows, that stupid, obnoxious, _annoying_ grin still plastered on his face. "You just saw Silver. How do you feel leaving him behind? And you walked away from Blue, too. But you didn't go back to him right away after leaving Silver—you came to me first. What does that say to you? Who do you belong with?"

I pulled at my hem one more time before smacking my hand against my leg. "You're giving me mixed signals here, Professor! Who do you want me to be with, then?"

Professor Oak rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter to me much, does it? Blue may be my grandson, but I'll still like you whether you're in my family or not. It's your decision, not mine. You need to decide between them."

I shook my head, refusing to get angry, refusing to get frustrated. I needed to figure this out and clear things up.

_You needed to learn that your past doesn't necessarily define who you are._

It didn't necessarily… but it could. If I let it.

I knew exactly what Professor Oak was trying to do. Whether it mattered not to him who I belonged with, it mattered to me—and he had been hinting at his choice all along. The entire time. But it _was_ my choice, and that was the beauty of it. I could do whatever the hell I wanted, and no one—except me—could judge me for it. And if they did… I didn't care.

"Thanks, Professor," I said, holding out my hand. He grabbed it, shaking it firmly, and I ran out the door again without another word. It wasn't like we weren't going to talk later—now that the whole firing situation had been cleared up a little bit, I didn't really mind his lunacy. He could be as crazy as he wanted—who was I to judge him for it?

I sent out my Noctowl, jumping on its back and soaring up into the sky. And as we headed to the place I needed to go—and needed to be—I looked back down at the ground, no longer feeling so far away from everything.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Really short chapter in comparison to my most recent ones. They've been pretty long. I was actually going to have this chapter end in a different spot—a little later from this point—but I decided not to. I figured this was a better cliffhanger to leave you with than the other one I had picked out.

So… I apologize for taking so long to update. I've been really distracted since I got home. XD But my finals went really well. I maintained my 4.0 GPA, so I'm super excited about that.

Anyway… I suppose that's all I can say right now. Because I can't think of anything else. I'm sure there was supposed to be something else… oh well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

"Hello, Lyra."

I wasn't expecting to hear a girl's voice, nor was I expecting to see Lynda sitting there on the front steps of my house. It was enough to make me take a step back, allowing the whole house to fit in my line of vision, and there she was, sitting right in the middle. My heart stopped just a little, and I stepped closer, zooming in, I was only feigning courage.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice shaking nervously. The preparation I had pushed myself through on the way here, the confidence I had once felt, had vanished, leaving behind a sense of fear. But I knew Blue had done nothing wrong; Lynda wouldn't be sitting out here waiting for me if he had. Not that I could imagine Blue doing anything, anyway. Those phone calls seemed to tell me he couldn't.

But Lynda's frown—more innocent than anything else—frightened me. I had never seen her looking so unsure. In fact, I had never seen her look at much with such a soft gaze, her eyebrows not furrowed together as I thought they permanently were. If this were the first time I had met her, I wouldn't even guess that she hated me. But experience and time told me I was wrong. First impressions definitely made a difference.

"Well, I had called Silver to ask him if he knew where you were." Lynda rose to her feet, the three-inch heels reminding me a lot of my own—and reminding me that my feet were absolutely killing after wearing these for so long. "He said you were probably here, but when I showed up, your boyfriend said you probably weren't coming back for awhile—but I figured I'd stick around and wait. You do know that he's really upset, right? And you still left?"

I pursed my lips. Mean Lynda was still there.

"What about Silver?" I demanded, crossing my arms. Lynda smiled, rolling her eyes at me. Yes, mean Lynda was most definitely still there. "You left him, didn't you? Who are you to chastise me for leaving Blue? Besides, at least I'm coming back. I regret what I did, and I understand what I need to do now. You regret and understand nothing."

Lynda pointed a finger at me, and I stepped backwards, wobbling on my pointed heel. "There's nothing for me to regret, Ly_ra_. Silver never loved me, and you know that. I left because he wanted me to leave. What was the point of sticking around when I could be out in the world with guys who actually cared about me? He loves you, not me. And the only reason that you're yelling at me is because you want me to take your spot."

"That's not true. I'm not anyone's spot to take."

She dropped her hand, brushing at her pants to dust herself off. "But it is true that he's in love with you. I just about had it with hearing your name. Lyra this, Lyra that." She lowered her voice in attempt to imitate Silver, and I narrowed my eyes as she spoke. "'Oh, hey, I love you, Lyra—wait, I mean Lynda. I swear I mean Lynda.'" She sighed, shaking her head. "He never meant Lynda. Not once."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I held my hands out towards the dark-haired girl. "I'm sorry."

Lynda just shrugged, rolling her eyes once again at me. "It's not like you had any control over that. Clearly your being here and not there proves that you don't feel the same way, and you would like it better if he didn't." A tiny smile formed on her lips again, this time softer. "I did like him, so it's a pity it didn't work out. But it's okay."

A silence lingered between us after, and I shuffled my feet, my heels clicking on my walkway. Lynda crossed her arms, staring expectantly at me, and I glanced around. I didn't really know what she was waiting for. If she was waiting for me to apologize, I had already done that—and I meant it, too. I felt bad about being the reason she and Silver broke up. But what else could I do? If she didn't want that, what did she want?

"Yeah," I started hesitantly, and Lynda fidgeted. "So, I think I'll just…"

"Wait, wait. I forgot that I came here to tell you something," Lynda interrupted, holding up her obviously-manicured hands. She seemed a little high maintenance to me, and it made me wonder how Silver thought the two of us were so similar. "I'm sorry that I was such a bitch to you. It kind of pissed me off that Silver was so into you and not me, so… I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I didn't like you. Frankly, I actually don't give two shits."

I didn't know whether to be flattered that she didn't actually hate me or annoyed that she didn't even care. But, then again, I didn't really care about her, either. So, I supposed we were even. And she apologized to me! Sure, she didn't really seem like she meant it, but hey, at least the words came out of her mouth.

"Oh. Thanks." I smiled, trying to feign some kindness towards her—because, just like her, all I felt right now was indifference.

She just nodded at me, reaching into her purse and grabbing a Poké Ball. I had forgotten that she was a Trainer—specifically one that trained at the Goldenrod Gym. Apparently Whitney had improved tenfold since I had last challenged her, and the Goldenrod Gym was no longer such an easy place to take on. Some people called it the toughest Normal-type gym in the world. It was pretty impressive.

"Hey, we should have a battle sometime, Lynda," I said as she sent out a Pidgeot.

I didn't get the response I had expected. Instead of a "sure, that sounds great", Lynda just laughed at me, grabbing hold of her bird and shaking her head at me. It wasn't often that I was rejected for a Pokémon battle, especially as ex-Champion. People usually _wanted_ to battle me, if only because they wanted to say they battled a Champion.

"I don't think so," she said, and I furrowed my eyebrows. "I beat Silver, you know. That's how we met. He goes to these battle bars at night, apparently, and tries to find people who can beat him. Not too many can—but I did. And that's how and why we hooked up, I guess." She laughed again. "I would totally kick your ass. Let's just assume that instead of wasting time testing it out, okay? Sounds like a plan to me."

And before I even had a chance to think about a response, she was off, flying into the sky. She was a hard one to figure out, that Lynda. But there was no way in hell she would even defeat me—and obviously she was afraid of losing if she didn't want to "waste time testing it out". But what did I know? Maybe she could beat me.

It was strange, though, that Silver went to battle bars at night. I had always thought… well, I didn't really know what I thought. But why had he been searching for someone who could beat him? That didn't even make sense to me. I had always wanted to be the best, to be the winner all the time—and when I lost, it was okay; I just learned from my mistakes and kept on going. That was the beauty of it. But I didn't go looking to lose.

It seemed weird to me. So completely foolish and—it suddenly all made sense. The "why". I had been the only one who could ever beat Silver. That was why.

Right.

Well, maybe he could beat me now. And that possibility was enough for me to click my heels along the paved walkway towards my front door. It was enough for me to stick my key into the lock and open the door, biting my lip as I stepped into the foyer and then into the living room. It was enough for me to sigh, gathering my energy to face Blue.

And I could. I had to.

"Lyra?"

I spun around, looking through the archway into the kitchen. Blue rose from his seat at the counter, stumbling over to the living room with so much excitement on his face that I could hardly stand it. It was so cute. But it shouldn't have. The reason he was excited was because I left—and now I was back.

I wasn't nervous anymore, though.

"Blue, I'm so sorry. I guess I just needed time to sort things out, and I have…" I folded my hands together, my fingers ice-cold against the back of my hands. "Last night after I left I went to Silver's place. He's staying at a hotel, and… well, we didn't do anything… he kissed me this morning, but… that's it. I thought he was the only one I could go to, and I'm really glad I went."

The excitement on Blue's face vanished as soon as I mentioned Silver's name. And he looked even more distraught when I said I had been glad that I went. But it wasn't what he thought. Probably not even close. Yet I could see exactly what he was thinking right in his eyes, and I pulled my hands apart, moving over to one of the couches and sitting down.

"I don't love him," I told Blue, reaching a hand towards him as he sat in the living chair across from the couch. He moved his knees a little, and I stopped, pulling my hand back. "Not like I love you. When he kissed me, I didn't even have to think about it before I pushed him away. I just did it. And I walked out. Without missing a beat, I walked right out. Because not being with you—that was wrong. And I couldn't do it."

Blue's fingers twitched, and he moved them, pretending it didn't happen. But I saw. "Then… what took you so long to get back?"

"I took a pit stop at your grandfather's lab."

"Great." Blue sighed, rolling his eyes. "What did that old fool say?"

I laughed, and this time when I reached for Blue, he didn't move away. He met me halfway, leaning forward and grabbing my hand. And that was the most wonderful thing. Because he believed me now—he believed me that Silver meant nothing, just like I had said. Maybe Silver had been mine once, and maybe it took me awhile to get over that. But I moved on.

"Well, I found out why he really fired me—he said I was clinging to the past too much. Which is true. I've been clinging to everything I've ever had—and I was in love with Silver for a really long time, Blue. A really long time. It took me awhile to get past that because I've been holding onto that feeling. But Professor Oak—and you—both helped me move on. I'm not stuck in the past anymore. I have a different future planned. But I understand if you—"

"No way," Blue said, jumping off the chair and moving to the couch beside me. And, as I smiled at him, he kissed me, clearly forgiving me for the competition thing. When he pulled away from me, his eyes were hard on mine. "I'm sorry, too. I think I overreacted. It was just a bit of a shock to hear that you had made a bet like that with your ex. But it's a good thing you're fighting for. I, for one, like to think we're the epitome of meaningful relationships. But I might be a little biased, so…"

"Nah," I whispered, "I like to think that, too."

Blue nodded, quickly kissing me again. "Listen…" He paused, getting up from the couch and walking over to one of the random decorative pots in the room. "I think the timing is wrong, and I was going to do this later. But… maybe… even if it's wrong, it's still right for me to ask. Since we're so meaningful and all."

I raised an eyebrow, chuckling quietly. "Um, right."

He bent down, lifting the lid of the pot and reaching into it. Before he even turned around and I could see the little box in his hand, I knew what it was—and he was right. The timing was absolutely horrid, and he probably couldn't have picked a worse day to do this. I didn't know what he was trying to do.

"I want you to choose me. Forever. Prove to me that it's more than just a competition to you," Blue said, walking towards me. Bending down, so traditionally, on one knee, he held the box up to me, opening it so slowly. "Marry me."

My heart went on a rage, thumping so hard against my chest that Blue could probably hear it. "What?"

"Show me. Prove it," Blue said, his voice wavering. "Will you marry me?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** That cliffhanger was necessary. Just saying.

And I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm a failure, okay? I can't resist the powers of The Sims 3. With all the other things I've had to do plus that game, it's a very dangerous combination that stops me from updating. XD Plus, I've started watching the Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep cutscenes (since I don't have a PSP), and those are quite distracting, as well.

I totally love the changes Word wants to make in order to accommodate the word "Silver". It thinks of it not as a name but as the item. It's hilarious. Word wanted me to change "Maybe Silver had been mine once" to "Maybe Silver had been mined once", LOL. That one letter makes a huge difference.

And who the heck puts a ring in a pot? What a terrible place to put it!

BTW, Readers: Something weird is going on with, like, the review responses. I can't just click the link from my e-mail anymore and respond to your reviews. It says the link is "outdated", even if I got it literally two seconds ago. So, I have to respond via the review page—which means that if you have your PM Messaging disabled, I can't respond. I'm not ignoring you—I just literally can't respond. And I don't know if I have already responded, so some of you might get multiple responses from me. Hopefully they figure this out. Responding to reviews is one of my favorite parts of writing fanfiction, and I really hope they fix the problem.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

"Seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for my wedding, doesn't it?" Ethan asked, stuffing a piece of chocolate layer cake into his mouth. A few pieces dribbled down his face and onto his lap; I didn't point this out to him. "It's been almost a year already. A year next Wednesday. I don't even know what to get Mattie for our anniversary. Well, I know something free that I can give her, if you know what I mean."

I raised my eyebrows at him, pausing before taking a bite of a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. "I didn't need to know that," I muttered, swallowing the cake and making a face—the cake was delicious… Ethan's comment? Not so much. "But that is a big deal. I can't believe it's been a year, either. Time just seemed to fly faster than usual. Maybe that's just part of being an adult. Being old, you know."

Ethan snorted. "I think it helps that you've been planning a wedding of your own." He shoved another piece of the chocolate layer cake into his mouth before reaching across the table and scooping a bite from the red velvet in front of me. "I mean, months seemed like hours to me when Mattie and I were planning our wedding. It's a lot of work—you don't have much time for anything other than planning, eating cake samples, and your real job. And eating cake samples. But this is the best part."

Blue laughed beside me, and I elbowed him. He grinned at me, shrugging my look off. He was so nonchalant about the wedding planning, but—actually—so was I. It helped that Ethan and Mattie had already been through it and could tell us what to do and what definitely _not_ to do. Plus, the whole thing was so small—just a local gathering and our closest friends and family members—that it didn't need to include so much as theirs did.

"You can pick the cake, then, Ethan," Blue suggested, and I nodded, putting my fork down. I really couldn't eat anymore cake if I forced it down my throat. "We take one bite of it. But I have a feeling people will be talking our ears off and forcing us to dance and taking pictures too long for us to eat more than that. The cake is really more for the guests than us, anyway. So, pick your favorite and scribble it down for us, will you?"

Ethan's eyes glowed, and he pulled the chocolate layer cake closer to him. "I've already got my favorite picked out." To prove this he shoved the rest of the piece in his mouth. He swallowed with a giant gulp, and I held my breath, praying that he didn't choke. Luckily, he kept talking to prove he was okay. "If you're not going to finish those, can I eat them?"

I slid the red velvet across the table to him, and he looked like the happiest man in the world, as if he had never tasted cake before. Blue followed suit, sliding his vanilla cake towards Ethan. The rest of the samples had already been devoured by Ethan, quite impressively. I really had no idea where all that cake went—Ethan was a stick of a man, and he didn't even work out as often as he probably should have.

"Speaking of eating," Ethan began again, not even bothering to swallow the hunk of cake in his mouth this time, "have you talked to Silver recently?"

I winced. The subject of Silver was a particularly sore one as of late. He had returned the invitation to my wedding about as soon as he had received it, and attached to it was a little card reading one word: _NO_. I tried to talk to him, and I had even waited outside his apartment once (he had since moved into a small apartment back in New Bark Town). But he slammed the door in my face, refusing to speak to me.

I knew how he felt, and he knew how I felt. There wasn't much for us to do anymore, and I wasn't sure what he was expecting of me. Did he want me to change my mind, to go back to him after saying yes to Blue? Well, I wasn't going to change my mind. It wasn't even a possibility now, and it had never been one.

So, if Silver wanted me to choose him or forget about him, I would have to go with the latter. I couldn't pretend like I wasn't hurt anymore. Getting that RSVP back from him with just a curt word on it was like being hit in the face, punched in the gut, and thrown out on the road like a piece of abandoned trash waiting to be picked up. I wasn't going to deal with that anymore.

"What does that have to do with eating?" Blue asked, buying time for me as I grimaced, trying to think of a calm response. And I wasn't entirely sure Blue wanted to talk about Silver, either.

Ethan shrugged. "Nothing. I just needed a way to divert the conversation."

I stood up so suddenly that both Blue and Ethan jumped, and Blue reached out a hand towards my back while Ethan rose across from me, looking surprised. I knew why they were concerned—the future bride, having anxiety? But it wasn't anxiety. I was absolutely fine. Angry, maybe, with Silver's behavior. But fine.

"Lyra, are you okay?" Both the guys were looking at me with wide eyes, and I stepped away from the table, away from Blue's hand.

"Yeah. I just need to go to the bathroom."

Ethan eyed me curiously, obviously not believing me. I suppose that was the problem with being friends with him for so long: he knew me better than anyone else—even Blue. But I averted my gaze, refusing to let him get to me.

"Lyra…"

"I have my period!" I exclaimed, putting my hands on my hips. "I need to change my tampon, okay? Geez!"

Ethan made a face before sitting back down, and Blue quickly looked the other way. "Oh, gross," I heard Ethan mutter as I walked out of the room. I could picture his disgusted look without needing to see it. If he had shared too much information with me by saying that he knew what he could do with Mattie on his anniversary, I had definitely shared too much information with that.

But instead of going to the bathroom, I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me and leaning against the plaster wall, sliding down to the floor and putting my head in my hands. I had been fine until Ethan brought up Silver. It wasn't just about the RSVP… I had lost one of my best friends. There was no way I could take that lightly, and no matter what Ethan or Blue said, I wanted him there.

"What do you think about that?" I heard Ethan ask, and I leaned closer to the door to listen closer. "She kind of seems upset about Silver not coming still. Have you said anything to him? I've tried to talk to him, but… he doesn't really respond."

"He doesn't want to talk to me. _You_ know why he's not coming." Blue sounded a tad bitter, and I could imagine him crossing his arms in annoyance. "I can't say I'm disappointed. It hurts me that Lyra is upset that he won't come, but… can you blame me for not wanting the guy who is in love with my fiancée to come to the wedding?"

There was a pregnant pause, and I almost wondered what was happening in there. But finally Ethan said, "He's her friend. You know how she feels about him. She's not going to change her mind about you."

"I know. I'm not doubting her. I'm just… confused. About what I'm supposed to do. But don't let anyone ever find out that I'm so indecisive right now," Blue added hastily, that cocky attitude flickering in him for a moment; I almost laughed, and I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to stop myself.

"Things will work out, man." Ethan's voice was very optimistic, and it rang happily in my ears for a moment. "They always do."

And I sincerely hoped they would.

* * *

Nothing should have been a greater moment than getting married—at least, not on the same day. But I couldn't stop what I was feeling—and the irrepressible joy that was bursting through me when I saw who was sitting with my friends and family in front of me. He had said he wasn't coming, and there would be no place for him at the dinner tables at the reception, but I would make room. I'd give up my chair for him.

But not even his presence—however happy it made me—could distract me from this moment, though. It seemed so different being up there, actually being the one looking at Blue, actually being the one getting married in front of all these witnesses. And as I stared into Blue's eyes, I didn't once look away. And for me, that was sheer proof that we needed to be together.

The reception afterward only helped my mood continue to skyrocket. Silver was, most likely, avoiding me, but I noticed that whenever I stepped away from Blue he would reappear in the room. But I couldn't stop the swarms of people, such as my mother—whom I really could _not_ ignore—from coming over to talk and fawn over me, as much as I wanted to. And once it was time for me and Blue to be back together, he would vanish again.

It wasn't until the last few toasts before Blue and I cut that cake that Silver actually stayed in the room while Blue and I were within proximity of each other. I had seen Ethan track Silver down a few moments earlier, and perhaps they had been fighting; Ethan returned to his seat looking flustered, and Silver didn't look too pleased himself. Of course, the redhead never looked particularly pleased.

"All righty," Ethan said, thrusting his glass into the air, his voice a little hoarser than before. Mattie, beside him, raised her eyebrows at him, probably wondering if he had had a little too much to drink. But no—Ethan was a little crazy when he was drunk. "Congratulations once again to the newlyweds, Blue and Lyra."

There were murmurs and shouts of agreement from everyone else, and Blue grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"But I've already given my toast for the evening, and I am one hundred and fifty percent sure that you don't want to hear me talk again. Because even though I have some high entertaining and slightly embarrassing stories about Lyra that I could share, I won't do that to her." He winked at me, and I smiled weakly, thankful that he was being a little considerate. "Someone else, however, has a few words to share."

I watched, dumbstruck, as Ethan carried the microphone across the floor towards Silver. I knew there was probably a lot that needed to be said—everything that hadn't been said in the past year and a half, in fact. But why now? Why not later? Had Ethan talked him into doing this? Did he know what Silver was about to say?

Because I sure as hell didn't.

"First off…" Silver began, his voice quivering slightly; this was unusual, and I held my free hand against my chest nervously. "I just want to say that I'm sorry. And this is all coming from me—no one made me come here to apologize… but Blue, um, did get me thinking that I probably needed to come."

I looked up at my new husband, and he nodded at me—a quick, short nod that was almost nonexistent.

Silver inhaled sharply, and it seemed to resonate through the room. "Lyra and I made a bet," he continued, and it was my turn to catch my breath. He wasn't going to—surely not today—he couldn't, not now—who did he think he was?

But he didn't, and he wasn't, and he was no one more than a man who felt guilt for what he had done; and I was no one more than a girl who felt silly for thinking that I had any right to say no to the sharing of things I had done. There were no secrets anymore. I had made sure that I was completely honest.

"I lost, of course. There aren't many who can beat Lyra." Silver chuckled quietly, lowering the microphone and glancing at me. "I took defeat pathetically, as I usually do. When we were young, I was a complete baby when I lost—I have no trouble admitting that now. Power and control belonged to her, not me, for reasons that I didn't quite understand. Her pure heart, of course, beat out my weak soul. And I learned to take defeat like a man—I shook hands, I smiled, I became friends with the girl who beat me. But I was weak as always. Immature.

"So, I fooled around… to put it nicely. I kept convincing myself that I could never get anything better than what I already had, so I put it to the test." Silver laughed dryly, his voice laced with disgust that I imagined he aimed towards himself. "And then Lyra won the bet, and I knew—I _knew_—that she was better off. Because she had moved forward. From each battle to the next, she improved, and she kept improving even when she dominated. And then when she lost her job—" he shot a look at Professor Oak, who just beamed at me "—she moved on again. It took her awhile, but she did it. How?"

He shrugged, his red hair bouncing slightly. "It's obvious to most people. You can't just sit there and not get another job. You can't just not do anything for the rest of your life without moving forward—you _have_ to move on. But it wasn't obvious to me. Watching her like that… it wasn't clear why things always worked out for her. And I was tricking myself into thinking that I had been moving on the entire time by fooling around. But I never did—I was stuck just where I had started, never even budged an inch. Well, I've come to tell her that she's right."

He averted his eyes for one moment, but then in a surge of what seemed to be inspiration, he looked right at me, his eyes piercing me. "Lyra, you were right. You won the bet, and I am keeping my end of the bargain—because it deserves to be said, not because I had to say it. There are such things as meaningful relationships. You and Blue are proof of that. But I just couldn't see it because I was stuck in the past. I didn't want to admit it. But I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

And Silver walked across the floor to where Ethan had returned and passed him the microphone, his eyes lingering on me before he turned on his heel. I expected him to leave; it seemed only fitting—he had come to say what he had needed to say, and he said it. Now he was done, free, and he could avoid the sufferings of this event for the rest of the evening.

Instead, he just took a seat at one of the tables that had an extra chair squeezed in, sipping some champagne from the glass as everyone glanced around in confusion. Seconds later, they all joined in, drinking from their glasses as well. I was the last one to join in—probably the most confused of all—and as I took my seat, I stared at Blue.

"You told him to come," I said, not as a question, but as an accusation. "You didn't want him here, but you made him come."

Blue's lips curled into a half-smile, half-smirk. "I didn't _make_ him come. He came of his own volition. I simply told him that you were troubled by his RSVP, and he knew he had some words to say to you. He had been avoiding Ethan, so I finally just banged on his door and wouldn't leave until he answered."

"Well, thank you." I patted his hand, glancing back over at Silver. "I'm glad he came. And I'm glad you didn't have to use too much force."

Blue nodded. "And I'm glad you're glad. Now go talk to him."

I thanked him one more time before rising to my feet, hurrying over to Silver before he could excuse himself to the bathroom or run away from the reception. He didn't seem displeased at my appearance by his side, but there wasn't much of a smile on his face. But I couldn't blame him for that at all.

"Thank you, Silver. That was really nice of you to keep your side of the bargain. Just for that, I may have to see what I can do about getting a less-appropriate-but-still-nice-enough-for-a-married-woman dress for your future wedding… as my side of the deal, you know. We had kind of called off the bet, hadn't we?" I smiled at him, and he rolled his eyes. There he was—same old Silver.

"Never officially. But if you insist, I won't stop you. Slutty Lyra would be interesting."

I waggled a finger at him, narrowing my eyes. "I didn't say slutty. I have a reputation to uphold, you know. But slightly low-cut and high-rising… I may be able to get that to work out." I shrugged, wondering what I was getting myself into, but seeing Silver's lips twitch as if he was going to smile was worth it.

"I really mean it, though, Silver: thank you. I'm really glad you came."

"I couldn't miss my best friend's wedding," he said sheepishly, as though he had always planned on coming, and I wondered if that was true. Something told me it was, but Blue would never believe me if I told him—his ego would deflate too much.

So, I just nodded, patting Silver on the shoulder before wrapping my arms around him. He seemed surprised, and he wasn't sure what to do. But after a moment, he patted me awkwardly on the back before I let go of him, tears brimming in my eyes. There was something so wonderful about this, despite its uncomfortable aura, that couldn't be ignored.

"I'm sorry, too. For everything, you know."

Silver grunted, and I reached a hand up to ruffle his hair; he slapped my hand away before I could get that far, and I laughed, punching his arm lightly.

"Fine, jerk. Talk to me later, okay? We need to catch up."

He just grunted again in response. I rolled my eyes, walking back up to the table that Blue, Ethan, Mattie, and I shared, the goofiest grin plastered on my face like a child in a toy store. I hadn't expected my wedding to be anything less than perfection, and it didn't disappoint me. And looking at Blue's happy face, it didn't disappoint him, either.

"Hey, hey… Lyra. You'll be interested in this little detail that Silver so interestingly did not divulge," Ethan whispered as I took my seat. I leaned closer—gossiping wasn't really my thing, but I did vow to hate secrets. "Silver's got a girlfriend. A real one this time. As opposed to Lynda who was… well, Lynda. And apparently she's—" he glanced around like this was the biggest secret of all "—nice."

"Oh my, really?" I perked up, staring across the floor at Silver. Why hadn't he told me? I was so happy for him! A nice girl!

And before anyone could stop me, I rose to my feet again, hands on my hips. With a deep breath, I bellowed, "Silver!" and began my stomp over to him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** The end! Kind of a little cliffhanger of an ending there (and slightly abrupt, but it mirrored the beginning, in a way)—who is Silver's mysterious girlfriend? Well… many of you suggested Kris. Maybe it is.

To start off, the reason I took so long to update this last chapter (as many of you know) is because I got a job. And I've been working a lot of hours, and I've been working close lately. So, by the time I wake up and get ready, I have to go to work, and by the time I get home, I go to bed. I haven't had much free time.

And, in all honesty, I was starting to lose interest in this fic. It took turns—as I wrote it—that I had planned out, but they didn't come out the way I wanted. I am a little appalled by my writing in this fic, and compared to "Phasmatic" and "Crushed" (and even "Stockholm"), this is bad.

But a lot of you liked it. I don't know how many of you still like it after this ending (many of you were vying for Silver), but… hey, it's fine. If you did like it, good for you! I'm really glad that you liked it! But I would keep in mind that—while my writing has evolved, perhaps for the better, this plot is subpar to my other plots. In my opinion, at least.

Anyway, enough excuses from me. I hope you've enjoyed reading this, at the very least. I may take a short break before I update "Speechless"; I'm thinking of writing a few one-shots. We'll see.

Thanks, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


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